Perfect Match
by Anya Maygo
Summary: A girl hunting for acceptance when her differences leave her wandering nearly alone, she finds love in a most unlikely spot. Kid-to-newgirl pairing
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

_**Hi. My name is Emiko. I'm a special weapon, a girl who can turn into a rope javelin. My meister, Hotaru Tsukiko, is also a weapon; she turns into a katana. We'd ended up paired with each other instead of typical meisters because Hotaru's personality didn't match up with any of those technically in the running well enough to cooperate with them – she can be kind of demanding sometimes. As for me…I had another ability.**_

_**I can also turn into a skunk. That's right, a skunk.**_

_**And because of that, not many wanted to be around me. Hotaru was the only person who knew what I could do and didn't care, besides Lord Death himself of course.**_

_**We take turns wielding each other in battle against evil people whose souls have turned into kishin eggs. Because we're both weapons, we need to collect twice as many evil souls as anyone else in school. Our track record for successful collection is…low. Part of that is the way our personalities mesh…or don't, as the case may be. My weapon form is assist/defensive: rather hard to kill anyone with it. As for the other way around…I shy back from rushing into battle, so I'm still awkward at using a blade.**_

_**And so that's where we were, sitting in class…**_

* * *

Mister Death Scythe came into the classroom and tried to impress us. I glanced over at Hotaru. As far as any boy was concerned she was impressive to look at, in a leather jacket that made her long silver hair seem to shine brighter.

She glanced right back at me, her red eyes piercing my deep black ones. "Does he always have this attitude?" she whispered.

"I don't know," I whispered back, "but if he says anything that makes me uncomfortable, I'm skunking out of here."

A smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth, and she offered up her fist. I lightly tapped it with my own and returned my attention to the substitute teacher.

* * *

_**Hm? What do **_**I**_** look like normally? Ah…well, I mentioned my eyes. As to everything else, I've got fair skin and my wardrobe doesn't particularly stand out in a crowd. My hair is black…with a white V-shape that starts right on my forehead and shoots down the whole length of my hair. Hotaru had checked: the white hairs grow from my scalp all through that V-shape. I almost never bind my hair into a ponytail because of that coloration: no sense in looking more like a skunk than I already do.**_

* * *

"All right then! Let's take attendance."

_Huh? Didn't he say earlier that he wasn't taking roll?_

Soul called him on that – yeah, I knew who Soul was, but I didn't talk to him much. He creeped me out a little with those teeth.

"I'm not going to take attendance on the guys, but I think I'll take attendance for all the ladies."

_That's it. I'm leaving._

I slid down in my seat until I vanished under my desk and morphed. Then I fell off my chair and waddled as quietly as I could – and as quickly as I could without attracting attention – towards the door. Then Death Scythe excused Soul and Maka from class, saying that Lord Death wanted to see them.

I took advantage of the fact that they were heading for the door and slipped out practically right under their feet.

_I can't believe I'm playing hooky from class!_ I morphed back as soon as they left my line of sight and took off running. Death Scythe had immediately hit me as a pervert or a player or both, and one would think he'd know better than to try to use his "skills" on impressionable minds inside bodies that were way too young for those games!

"So…" I said aloud once I'd stopped on a balcony and caught my breath, "what shall I do with myself until the bell?"

* * *

What I ended up doing was finding a stick about the same length as Hotaru's katana form and practicing fighting moves against a tree.

Well, okay, I should be honest: my form with a blade had gotten to be flawless. What I was actually working on was building some aggression. I needed to be bold if I was to gain any souls. So far, every soul we'd collected has gone to Hotaru, because of her ingenuity in getting a rope javelin to kill somebody.

Our current amassed total of souls is…

_Hotaru: 17_

_Emiko: 1_

And that one was Hotaru being nice and saying I needed to get at least one for credit.

But I _would_ become a Death Scythe, a weapon that Lord Death would feel was worth using!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

**Emiko**

The next day, I was astonished to see our new teacher, Professor Stein, come rolling in backwards on a rolling chair, trip on the doorjamb, spin across the floor and then start the lesson while just lying there!

"We're gonna start by dissecting some frogs, it's sure to be fun."

I set my head on the desk. "Oh, please, no, it'll take all my effort not to go skunk and eat the stupid thing."

No, this wasn't an idle remark. The last time I'd come across a dead animal in my backyard, that's _exactly_ what had happened. That one had been a snake. I'd felt sick all the rest of the day, thinking about what I'd done.

I was starting to feel kind of sick now, just remembering it. I raised my hand. "Request permission to be excused?"

His gaze locked on me. "Hm? You're…Emiko, right?" At my nod, he stood up and studied me…_very_ intensely. It was like he was looking right into my soul.

Which, knowing what I do of his reputation, he probably was.

"Very well, you may be excused, provided you come see me after class is over."

I'd stood up and started for the door when he finished his sentence. Then I stopped short. "Sir?"

"You still have to finish the assignment."

_Oh. Drat._

I slipped out, positioned myself next to the door and waited for the bell.

* * *

Finally, the bell rang…too soon. My classmates filed out past me. I couldn't help but notice pitying looks from Black Star and Tsubaki. Then Soul glanced at me. "Good luck, Emiko. You're going to need it: Stein's one sadistic dude."

I shivered. Then I slipped in.

Professor Stein was fussing with the giant screw through his head. He turned as I shut the door behind me. Then he gave me that penetrating look again.

"Sir…I'm ready for…for the lesson." I'd had to stop in the middle of that sentence to gulp, remembering the frogs.

"Your soul went chaotic just now."

"Huh?" I stiffened.

"Your soul, in my opinion anyway, seems composed of two sides. One is quiet, mild-mannered and a little nervous in front of others. The other side is far more confident, always alert to any sign of danger, and…" a wry smirk twitched onto his face, "…possesses a strange hunger for…frogs?"

I gulped, starting to feel a little queasy again. _Drat you. Soul's right, you _are_ sadistic._

"And there's that chaotic twinge again."

I glared at him, letting my anger burn away my nausea. "Please, sir…don't make me spray you."

His eyebrows shot up. "Now there's an interesting warning." And then Professor Stein's eyes roved up to my hair. "Is that a hint?"

I sighed. "Only about half the school knows the truth that I'm aware of. The other half no doubt has been told. It's an open secret. I'm a weapon that has two forms: a rope javelin…" I started fussing with my hair, closing my eyes.

Stein finished the sentence. "…And a skunk."

"It's why I had to excuse myself from the…the dissection. I've…eaten…dead animals before. It's probably the one animal instinct I have: find something a skunk would consider food, morph into the skunk, down the hatch." I shuddered again. "The human side of me is appalled that I would do that, but the skunk…"

A hand fell on my shoulder.

My eyes snapped open and I stared up at him. I hadn't been about to let him touch me after that remark of Soul's, but it didn't seem polite to smack his hand away.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of. Your soul is still quite sound, and that's all that matters."

I nodded carefully. "Thank you." Then I cocked an eyebrow at him. "I'd still rather not do the dissection – I don't want to spoil my lunch."

He laughed. It was unnerving, but I managed to grin back at him.

"I'll mark your name down for completion of that assignment, as long as you answer me one thing."

I blinked up at him, uneasy.

"Have you actually eaten a frog?"

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Yes." _Don't remind me._

"Then you have already done the assignment." He stepped back, picked up the name board and marked something on it. Then he blinked at me as if surprised I was still here. "Well, go on then! Class dismissed!"

"Thank you, sir!" I turned tail and ran out the door, glad that human legs could cover far more ground than a skunk's.

* * *

**A/N: This is mostly insight to what Emiko's like as a skunk. The next chapter's actually going to have some plot to it.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

**Hotaru**

"What should our class be today? I know, why don't we do another dissection lab?"

I glanced at Emiko, who'd just banged her head on the desk. _Does he like tormenting my partner or what?_ Yeah, I knew about her little roadkill-cuisine problem, I was probably one of the very small number who did.

And learning that it was a bird didn't help much.

Emiko raised her hand. "Sir, I'd like to be excused. I've already…done this assignment."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You've dissected a rare cuckoo?" He sounded amused. I figured that he was among the very few now in the know about…that issue.

She shrugged. "No, but when you've dissected one bird, you've kind of dissected them all. There's hardly any structural difference." And she threw such an odd accent into her voice, I couldn't tell if she'd really said "dissected" or if she'd actually said "digested."

And judging by Professor Stein's smirk, he caught that. "Very well, you may go find Soul and Black Star. Perhaps they're doing something you can relieve them of so that they can come to class."

_That excuse of hers works every time. I wish I had such a ready excuse on hand._

* * *

**Emiko**

I slipped out of my seat. As I was passing him, though, he caught a handful of my hair, making me stop. "And by the way, there will be a new student joining our class today." Then he let go and allowed me to continue out the door.

_A new student?_

I ran for the front door. I got there just in time to witness chaos.

The new guy was on the floor screaming something about numbers and symmetry at Soul, who was just lounging next to a pillar. Two girls, probably his weapons, were watching this party with different degrees of amusement.

"Um…dude, is there something wrong with you?"

"Yes," the taller girl answered while the shorter laughed, "he's absolutely insane."

I started snickering myself. Then my head-banging moment came up – Black Star started yelling from his vantage point of one of the points sticking out of the building. I never did have any guesses at how he got to places like that.

And then the taller girl called the boy "Kid." Hm…that could either be patronizing…or…

I cocked my head and studied what little I could see of him at this angle. _Could this be Death the Kid, Lord Death's son?_

Upon Black Star arriving on ground level via breaking platform, I settled into my skunk form and waddled behind a pillar proper. I couldn't watch; if Kid was really this into symmetry, and I'd subconsciously noticed that the building was symmetrical until that moment of course, then Kid was about to go nuclear on Black Star.

My ears told me the story.

Sure enough, Kid chose to fight. His weapons were named Liz and Patty, though I'm not sure which is which yet.

Then there was true chaos to my ears: guns blazing and a lot of shouting.

* * *

Readers, I need to confess something to you.

I. Hate. Black Star.

I hate him with a passion. He doesn't believe in the existence of a sun, he thinks the world revolves around _him!_ He thinks that _he_ is the only person worthy of every ounce of attention! Plus, he's a complete moron with almost no skills!

* * *

Maka, Tsubaki and Professor Stein came up behind me, though just enough off-kilter from my position to watch the fight.

The worst part of the fight was when Black Star actually tried to wield Soul as a scythe. To say it didn't work out…would be an understatement.

I only came out when some extreme power started to appear from Kid. I…couldn't_ see_ souls, exactly…not in human form. But for some reason, when I was a skunk, I could sense them. A glowing sphere formed around Kid, and then spikes formed on his upper arms and his pistols turned into arm-cannons!

And the power in that shot – I would have been very surprised if those two idiots were still there.

Tsubaki ran out screaming worry for Black Star. I morphed back, but I didn't fully come out of the shadows. It was simply that I was shy.

Then suddenly, Kid collapsed! His weapons morphed back and the shorter one remarked, "Aye-aye-aye!" She sounded almost resigned.

_What happened?_

Apparently it was a little cut…to his hairstyle.

Imagine my eyebrow twitching as I try to hold back my combined amusement and disgust.

When Lord Death himself appeared on the scene…I was just glad it was only to take Kid home. Though…his parting shot straight to me had me wondering.

"And Emiko, you really ought to consider properly introducing yourself to my boy. I think you'll get along fabulously!"

I ran my fingers through my hair. _What in the world did he mean by that?_

"Hey, Emiko, we've got a job to do, remember?"

I turned around. Hotaru had stolen up behind me.

"School. Right. And are we still going for them tonight?" _Them_ being a couple of corrupt souls inside some old ladies. I was personally amazed that they'd gone for so long without normal people noticing. They took the souls of children.

"Yup."

* * *

That night, we set out. I was riding as a rope dagger, and she was roller-blading.

"_**So we do have a plan, right? The usual, or are we going to try to have me actually take this one?**_"

"I don't know…every time _you've_ tried to take the soul, we lose the element of surprise, you lose your nerve and I have to try harder to take down our target. And _this_ time, we've got more than one to collect."

"_**I've gotten better, really. Still…you're right. You take the first, and…how many are there?**_"

"Two, I think."

"_**Okay, you take the first by stealth, and I take the second.**_"

She vaulted onto a rooftop – I never did figure out how she could do that with roller blades – and slipped into the attic of our target's house. Then, belly-down, she crept to the hatch and levered it up, peeking in.

"_**These ladies lure kids to the house with candy, right? You think we can take some home with us after we clear them out?**_"

"You're such a sugar addict…but sure."

"_**Hey, I need sugar around in case I end up eating carrion again, so sue me!**_"

"Sssh!"

One of our targets was approaching the vicinity of the hatch.

Hotaru unwound me and let a loop of the cord slowly ease downwards through the hatch. Slowly…slowly…

Then she looped the cord around the target's neck, one circle to keep from losing it, and heaved with both ends in one hand, transforming her other arm into a blade in the same movement.

There was barely any time to register the lady's look of shock before Hotaru spun on her knees somehow, letting her blade-arm cut just below my cord. Head and body detonated harmlessly and the egg dropped to the floor below.

"Drat," Hotaru put away her blade. "Well, we'll have to go down there now anyway. Sooner or later, we'll have to perfect that move so that we _don't_ drop the egg."

"_**Another day, Hotaru. Come on, drop me!**_"

Hotaru lowered me until the point of my blade was touching the floor. This was what I'd meant by drop. Once the point touched, she let go and I morphed back to human. Then she jumped through the hatch herself, morphing into a katana that I caught easily by the hilt.

Then it was my turn to play stealth. Carefully I crept around the house, leaving the egg where it was. Kishin-soul people tended to ignore those eggs for some reason.

Finally I heard the sounds I was waiting for: the clink of dishes moving around. I peeked into the kitchen to note where my target was.

And that was when I nearly had a heart attack – it hadn't been two after all.

It was _three._ There was also an old man at the table.

I tilted the blade so that Hotaru could see the reflection of the old man. "It would have been nice to know about _him_!" I hissed.

"_**Oops. Sorry about that. I forgot him. No, he's not a witch, but he pulls the strings of the other two. He's the oldest out of the three of them.**_"

I could feel my nerve slipping away at the thought of having to take on two opponents, and never mind that they were old – I've _seen_ what a kishin soul could do, and a body didn't seem to make much difference!

"_**Come on, don't fail on me now!**_" Then she fell silent again. My guess: she was coming up with some new idea to get me to move and take these two down.

"Well?"

"_**Um…well, you remember the candy, right?**_"

"Yeah?..."

"_**Pretend you'd just eaten a dead rat, and those two are keeping you away from that candy.**_"

I hesitated a little longer. I could feel my determination rising, but it wasn't quite high enough…

"_**Oh yeah – did I mention that this dead rat came with an appetizer of live worms? Real ones, and not the gummy type?**_"

That did it. I bared my teeth in an outright snarl and spun around the doorway, lifting Hotaru high above my head one-handed.

They both turned in surprise. And then the old man bared his own teeth, which were sharper than normal. "_What do we have here?_"

"Your souls have turned into kishin eggs and I'm here to claim them!" My other arm whipped towards the chandelier, morphing into my rope dagger and grabbing hold of the thing. Then I heaved myself off the floor and spun around the room – literally spun, I was twirling around in circles while I rotated on the chandelier itself.

I think the only reason that that move worked was because the old woman was too surprised at my unorthodox technique to move out of the way of the katana blade – she too ended up beheaded. Then I let go of the chandelier, impacted the far wall with my feet, bent my knees to allow for my momentum, and looked up.

With my still-rotating vision I saw the old man lunging for me. I gripped Hotaru's hilt with both hands, aimed and shoved off the wall. The blade went all the way through him, and Hotaru and I fell to the floor.

* * *

Hotaru turned back; being a weapon had helped her maintain her equilibrium while I'd been spinning. I lay there on the floor a bit longer, trying to get my head straight.

When I opened my eyes again, Hotaru was standing there with all three eggs and a suitcase that was presumably full of candy. "This suitcase was all I could find. At least it has wheels."

I stood up. "So how do we divide it this time?"

She looked at the three red orbs in her hand with an odd look on her face. Then she returned her gaze to me. "You get two, Skunky. You earned them."

I stared in wonder. This was the first time I'd actually _earned_ a soul, and it was two at once! Then I took the souls from her. "You first, since you're taking us home in the first place."

Hotaru jumped up and turned into a katana again. I caught her, and a slot opened in her hilt. This was how she took in kishin eggs. I placed hers in, and she morphed back again. The way I took kishin eggs was far simpler. Yes, I eat the souls like Soul presumably does – I've never seen him – but I do so like a skunk. And I did this time, climbing onto the table to do so. And from skunk, I just went straight to rope dagger. This wasn't actually a stretch – my rope dagger form had my skunk tail as a decoration hanging from the dagger end.

Hotaru picked me up, tied the dagger end to the suitcase handle and bound the rest of me around her waist. Then we went out the back door and were gone.

"_**You want to split up the candy when we get home, or wait until morning?**_"

"And you're back to the candy. Wait until morning, okay?"

"_**Fine.**_" I'd been teasing. I felt awesome! It would be a long time before I got to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

**Emiko**

The day I first officially met Death the Kid was the day he and Black Star went off after Excalibur, the Legendary Sword.

…Okay, okay, I was following them – first as a human, then as a skunk. I watched as both of them pulled the sword out easily, and then saw the utterly ridiculous other form Excalibur had. Black Star's patience was being strained to the utter limit, and Kid was being completely unreadable in regards to this weirdo.

I waddled closer. The number of times he interrupted the two boys and called them fools was getting on my nerves. Then I swiveled around so that my tail was pointing towards him. (Readers, can you guess what I'm planning on doing to him? Heh heh…)

The ultimate trigger for me was when Black Star took Kid's book on Excalibur, discovered that it was a book Excalibur himself wrote, and the stupid weapon's only answer was "No autographs!"

I aimed and fired.

Direct hit to the face!

Everything went still for a full ten seconds. Then he tried to pretend that that hadn't happened, gave both boys a contract and became a sword again.

They put him back where they'd drawn him from, labeled him useless and walked off. Kid swooped me up and started petting me as we walked. "Good skunk, that was an excellent shot, and one he well deserved!"

When they were going through the water again, water-phobic Kid set me across Black Star's head.

"If that thing skunks me, you're paying for the tomato juice bath!"

"Oh, very well."

I rolled my eyes. The exact angle I was, if I tried to "skunk," I'd be more likely to hit Kid than Black Star. And I was beginning to suspect that of all the people who were aware that I could turn into a skunk, Black Star was the only person who'd been left out of the loop.

* * *

Back at school…we discovered that Excalibur had left a surprise for the two meisters.

Oh yeah – I'd disappeared almost as soon as we got back, so that I could change back. I had to: Kid was starting to talk about taking me home with him. Fabulous idea for a potential wife, not so great for a girl who barely knew him, and especially not when one is well aware he's referring to the idea of a pet.

And it was high time I properly introduced myself to him.

I walked over to the two crazy structures with Excalibur's pictures on them, looked back and forth, and yanked them both over. Pink flower petals flew everywhere. Then I turned around.

And I saw that I'd gained Death the Kid's full attention…just as I expected. See, I'm probably symmetrical from the back as well as in front, and I _never_ wear a ponytail.

"Hi," I finally opened the conversation, scuffing my feet on the floor and holding out my hand. "My name's Emiko. It's nice to properly meet you."

His expression as he reached for my hand was that of a person who felt like he was in a dream. Plus, he was blushing.

Actually, I figured I knew what was up. By knocking over those party setups, and letting them just hit the floor, I'd just gave myself a homemade romantic setting. And Death the Kid was always fascinated by symmetry…he probably felt like he'd just had love at first sight.

_If he kneels on the floor and kisses my hand with some remark about my symmetrical beauty and being honored to meet me, I'm going to be hard put to keep from laughing at him._

As it turned out, I was almost right. He didn't kneel. "The pleasure is mine," is what he said before kissing my hand. "But…what do you mean, 'properly' meet me? I should think I'd remember seeing such perfect symmetry!"

I glanced at Black Star, who looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or gag.

"It's simple: you've met me before. You just didn't know it."

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "I'm not sure I understand."

I pulled my hand free and used both hands to gather my hair behind my head in an impromptu ponytail. "You will as soon as I turn around." I made no comment about Black Star; I had low opinions about his intelligence quota. And then I turned around. "Does this remind you of anything?"

Kid was quiet for a full three seconds. Then he gasped. "You…"

I let go of my hair and looked back at him. He looked stunned. Then I smirked at him. "I've got good aim, don't I?"

His blush got more intense. "Um…should I apologize?" I think he was remembering holding me in his arms and stroking my fur.

It was my turn to blush upon remembering that. "No, I actually enjoyed that. Do you have a pet?"

Judging by Black Star's expression, we might as well have been speaking code. Soul and Maka looked confused, but it was a brand of confused that included an element of "Once we get some context to this, it'll all make sense."

Finally, I took pity on Black Star. "You do remember the skunk that Kid set on your head on your way out of Excalibur's cave, right?"

"Yeah, so? Wait, how do you know about that? You weren't there, and you just met us, so neither of us told you about that!"

A grin spread over my face, one that could only be described as feral. "And you think a wild skunk just _happened_ to be there in time to spray Excalibur, and just _happened_ to put up with being carried by a complete stranger? Please say something that proves you're not as big a moron as I've believed."

He stared at me a little longer, still uncomprehending. Soul and Maka both let out quiet "Aah" sounds, because they now had context to what I was talking about and it made total sense.

"I was that skunk, Black Star." I rubbed my hand against my shirt, about stomach-level. "You need to wash your hair more."

That was his cue to start screaming, and I walked out of the classroom.

Kid followed me. "Um…you're not offended by my…saying I wanted to take you home with me, are you?"

I looked over at him. "That can have a very heavy answer, Kid. On the one hand, we haven't known each other long enough for that to be a serious suggestion and I don't want to be considered a pet. On the other hand…" I fell silent and came to a complete stop.

His expression was definitely amusing. He was worried that his words while I was a skunk had offended me so badly I wouldn't want anything to do with him now.

Then I made up my mind. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him. "I'm giving you a chance, Kid."

He went stiff on the instant I did that. Then, slowly, he put his arms around my waist and returned the hug.

Then I pulled back. "Well, I've got to find Hotaru."

"Hotaru?"

"My weapon…or meister, whichever way you want to look at it."

"You're both weapons?"

"We didn't resonate with any typical meisters. She was too headstrong and demanding for most ordinary meisters, and…just about as soon as people find out I can turn into a skunk, they don't want anything to do with me, and never mind that I also turn into a rope dagger."

"Then every other meister at this school is an idiot."

I felt a blush coming onto my face again as I smiled at him. "That's what Hotaru says. My guess," I felt like giving a shot of wit, "is that they're thinking more of the smell than the symmetry. They'd rather not be anywhere near me, for fear that they'll be permanently skunked." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I don't smell _that_ bad, even as a skunk."

"I noticed that."

I glanced at him just in time to see him double-take as he realized what he'd just said, and blush again. "I mean, um, uh…"

I felt a grin pulling at my mouth. "You don't talk with girls much, do you?"

And apparently Kid saw that my grin had reached my eyes and therefore I wasn't offended, because he relaxed again. "This is probably the longest conversation I've had with one that hasn't been the Thompson sisters."

I laughed softly. "I'll help you practice more with that, don't worry about it."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

**Emiko**

I won't go into everything that Hotaru and I did. I will say we went on several missions, and I'd gotten better at being aggressive with a blade. Plus, Kid and I had…kind of gone out on a couple of dates in that time, though we had yet to actually kiss.

The most interesting thing to happen during that time was once Lord Death had us going on a mission alongside Kid.

Hotaru had about fifty souls then, and I had maybe, um…forty…seven?

Apparently, there was a whole mob of kishin we had to deal with, and there were too many for just two weapons to take down. Kid helped us get to the site. Hotaru was tied to his back – tilting diagonally, and he wasn't fond of that, but there wasn't much choice – and I was in his arms as a skunk.

* * *

We got there and most of the weapons regained their humanity. I stayed a skunk.

"Emiko?"

I looked upside down at Kid. He was still holding me. "_**I wasn't going to turn back just yet. You can put me down now, though.**_"

He set me down gently, with a single – symmetrical – stroke of his fingers down my back. I waddled off, glad that skunks couldn't blush, and took note of our surroundings.

Tall buildings were everywhere, and we were in front of one of the tallest. Going in required a great deal of stealth, and it was Hotaru who suggested that I take the air vents.

"_**Yeah, I'll fit…I'll need a boost, though.**_" The grate she was looking at was a good six feet above the ground.

Using Liz and Patty, Kid shot the grate down. Hotaru tried to boost me up to the new hole. After about four tries, I finally managed to grab the edge with my little claws and pulled myself in. "_**Be careful, you guys!**_"

* * *

Okay…waddling through a maze of air vents wasn't the most exciting things I've ever done, in fact it's downright boring. I did find a grating that looked out on a room with – I took a careful sniff – about three kishin mob guys. I turned around, aimed through the grate, and grinned to myself. _Weapon technique: Soul Tracker Stink!_

I only managed to hit one guy, but one was enough for chaos to start within the room.

_My work here is done._ I continued waddling through the building, 'tagging' any guys I saw through a grate. I had complete faith in Kid and Hotaru that they'd clean up behind me.

* * *

After a while, I wound up on the roof-level. I was left with a stupid grate in front of me, so I couldn't just get out.

Oh yeah – I was also out of shots, and there were _ten_ of these guys out there. I had no good way of warning the four advancing.

When the door exploded open, I winced. _Tactful, Hotaru. Or did Kid shoot the door down?_

The next minute, Hotaru ripped the grate free amidst shooting. "Come on, Skunky! Let's do this!"

That was the first good look I got at the rooftop: a flat surface, with a small house-type structure holding the grate and door, and a pipe chimney at the other side from the house.

I became the rope dagger, and found myself spinning around wildly. It was a good thing I was used to watching things while I was spinning, or I'd be thoroughly dizzy.

Kid was shooting every guy coming at him. He took down six…I was stabbed through the seventh, and Hotaru morphed her arm to slice the eighth.

Then one of the remaining guys managed to knock Kid off his feet…and off the roof!

"_**Hotaru, save Kid!**_" I screamed.

She twitched, turned and swung me out after Kid. "Kid, throw me Liz and Patty!"

It was his turn to twitch, but he did throw the two guns. That move made his feet kick upwards, and my dagger-end twined around his right ankle in a crazy knot that would hold better than it looked like it ought to.

The dagger-end was the end my "eyes" were, but I was dimly aware of Hotaru tying my other end to that chimney pipe. I had no doubt that she was going to scoop up Liz and Patty and finish off the other two guys while Kid and I got properly back up.

Kid came to the end of my rope, swung back and got stunned against the wall.

"_**Kid, are you OK?...Kid?**_ _**KID!**_"

"I'm all right, I'm all right! You don't need to yell!"

"_**I was worried, okay? Besides, your head's all the way down there in comparison to me, I didn't know if you could hear me.**_"

"…All right…I can see that."

"_**So, um…any ideas how we get back up?**_"

For a minute, he was quiet. My guess was he was attempting to think while the blood was rushing to his head. Then… "Turn back?"

"_**The biggest problem with that is I'm not **_**that**_** strong. I'm not sure I can pull you up if you're not in a position to give me a little help.**_"

"I…see. I suppose I shall have to try to reverse myself, and _then_ you can turn yourself back."

I didn't bother answering that. He started semi-thrashing as he tried to bend far enough to grab my rope.

I couldn't claim any great ability to move in my rope dagger form, but I could flop around that skunk-tail decoration somewhat, which I did right as he managed to get his left hand up to his right ankle. At least it was something for him to grab, and he took advantage of that.

"There! …I'm afraid…that's the best I can do."

"_**Don't worry about it. Just…don't let go.**_"

He brought his right hand around to get an extra grip on the skunk deco.

Then I focused harder than I ever had before. _Shorten the cord…more…more…_ This was harder than it looked, because I was effectively using my changing back to pull Kid up the wall. It was a good thing I could untie knots doing this, or I'd have been stuck more times than I'd care to count.

Kid was probably about six inches away from the edge of the roof before I told myself to take on my human form, untying the chimney-pipe end for my "legs." My hands took a little more thought, but I made sure to think it out _before_ I finished shifting. My dagger-end untied itself and became my left hand, and the skunk-tail decoration became my right hand clinging to Kid's left wrist, and both of Kid's hands were gripping my wrist in, well, a death-grip.

I dropped his ankle almost immediately and grabbed his right wrist, my knees slid along the floor with his weight until they hit the low wall, and I heaved myself backwards to pull him back up.

Obviously, I hadn't thought that move through carefully; I ended up sprawled on my back with my hands above my head and Kid was sprawled full-length on top of me, our noses practically touching.

We just lay there, staring into each other's eyes, for a long minute.

Then Hotaru's voice broke in. "Well? How are we going to divide up the souls this time?"

We turned to look at her, along with the humanized Liz and Patty. Then Kid apparently realized I couldn't get up as long as he was holding me hostage, released his death-grip on my wrist (I'd let go as soon as I realized he wasn't) and rolled off me.

That was when we both got a good look at each other's faces and realized we were both blushing.

"Um…there were…twenty…five kishin. Ten were up here…that meant fifteen down below. Liz and Patty had divided twelve souls evenly, and you'd taken the remaining three."

Hotaru nodded. "I now have fifty-three souls. Emiko already had less…all that's left is deciding how many more than me she gets of the ten."

Kid looked at me. "How many souls do you have collected, anyway?"

"Forty-seven."

Kid was quiet for a minute, with his eyes closed. Then he opened them again. "Hotaru, are you all right with only getting two more souls?"

"Sure…" I wasn't sure I wanted to trust that smirk Hotaru was wearing…a punch line was coming, I just knew it. "Emiko's definitely earned two souls for helping us find which rooms had those fifteen guys, and four more for saving your butt."

Kid seemed vaguely confused. I watched as Hotaru wandered over to the glowing red spheres and selected two for herself. Then Kid looked at me. "Um…you…_do_ want the last two souls, don't you?"

I rolled my eyes as I morphed skunk, ate six souls, morphed back and helped Hotaru pull her katana-mode of taking in souls. "Of course I do, Kid." I dropped the katana. "Come on, Hotaru, drop the other shoe; you've been dangling it long enough."

The katana giggled, and she turned back, sitting on the ground with crossed legs. "You can have those last two souls…_if_," she pointed her thumb at Kid, "you give Symmetry-obsession over there a kiss!"

_Bingo._ I glanced at Kid, feeling my face going hot. Kid was staring right back at me, and he was blushing just as hard as I probably was.

"Come on, you two," Hotaru went on ruthlessly, holding her thumb and forefinger a bare centimeter apart. "You came _this_ close to kissing anyway with that fall!"

My eyes roved over to Liz and Patty. Would they object to this?

Liz was not-very-successfully hiding a smirk behind her hand. Patty was laughing outright. If I had to guess, they'd heard a great deal about me already, and didn't mind that Kid was looking somewhere other than them for a potential…um…girlfriend.

Kid stood up, finally, and dusted himself off. I licked my lips, suddenly nervous.

Liz and Patty suddenly decided to get involved. Liz walked around behind Kid and gave him a shove towards me, and Patty slipped up behind me and pushed me towards Kid.

As Kid's "help" had been a single application of force, he stumbled, and I had to catch him to keep him from hitting the ground again. He stood up straight again, and once again we made eye contact, my black to his yellow.

I shrugged, still feeling like my face was on fire. "I don't know about your weapons, but Hotaru's not moving until…well." I wondered how big a show Hotaru was wanting: would just a quick touch be enough for her?

It was Kid who ultimately made the next move. He was the one who leaned forward and set his lips against mine.

And when I kissed him back…I definitely felt something. For one thing, I wasn't nervous anymore. For another…my mother had told me that knowing someone was right for you – if the pair wasn't a weapon and a meister – through a kiss was iffy, but that it was easy to tell through a kiss if the relationship _wouldn't_ work. You know, if it felt like you were kissing a sibling, or if the kiss point-blank weirded you out. Well…not only was the kiss _not_ like either of those, it was…a resonance; one that nearly made me forget the other three weapons even existed, let alone were still on the roof with us.

That touch-of-closed-lips kiss only lasted for a few seconds, and yet…wow.

Judging by the look on Kid's face, he'd felt it, too.

I pulled back, a shy smile on my face, and went to get the other two souls, morphing into a skunk as I walked. "_**Actually, Kid, I've wanted to do that for some time. I've just always been too nervous to suggest it to Lord Death's son.**_"

Kid laughed, a little. He still sounded stunned, though.

_If this doesn't throw a wrench into the way we normally interact at school, then I'm a Chihuahua._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

* * *

**Emiko**

Well, whether or not the kiss did anything to our interaction, it definitely played hell with my concentration at school. Not even the Super Written Exam seemed important enough to actually study for. When the day came and I was given my exam, I did attempt to answer about half the questions and then wound up sketching a picture of Death the Kid on the back…a picture with a carefully-made symmetrical heart around it.

…Actually, I did manage to finish all the questions before the hour was up. How many I got right was…open to question though.

* * *

Well…after a few days or so, we got an assignment to write a report on Excalibur. I managed to write a full five hundred words on how to me, that name needed to be one that people dared not speak, for fear they'd attract his attention.

I showed it to Kid, and he was amazed at my literary prowess. "This should be the published work on him in the library, not what we've currently gotten." He flipped to the last page. "You even included a warning! 'Whatever you do, _do not_ attempt to draw this sword. You will be plunged into a fate worse than death itself.'" His eyes roved up to meet mine, a smile spreading over his face. "Not bad."

"I thought so." Then I leaned over to look down at Ox Ford. "Hey, Ox! You were the last to see the legendary sword, right?"

He turned and looked up at me with a sour expression. "Yeah?..."

"Does he still smell like skunk?"

His face went completely blank for a minute. Then he pointed at me. "You…"

"Does he?"

"Ah…no. Either enough time has passed, or he somehow got a tomato juice bath."

"Oh." Disappointed, I sat back down. "He already looks so lame that he ought to stink as well. …Maybe I should have sprayed his stupid silk hat instead; skunk-smell doesn't come out of clothing nearly as readily."

Black Star and Kid both started snickering. Black Star found his voice first. "It would serve him right!"

I grinned. By this point, I'd obtained another ten souls.

* * *

Ten souls later – five for me and five for Hotaru – the school was throwing an Academy Anniversary party. I showed up late…it wasn't my fault. I was on my way there, planning to get there early in a nice dress and with my hair tied back with a ribbon, when my nose detected a dead rat or something. I felt the skunk-compulsion and knew I wouldn't be able to turn back from it so easily this time, so I focused hard on making sure my hair ribbon stayed on the skunk, bound around its neck.

Being stuck as a skunk, I waddled the rest of the way there. Hotaru hadn't known where I was, she ended up making it there by herself.

Finally, I made it. I met up with Soul, Maka, Black Star and Tsubaki outside.

"Hey, Emiko…" Maka sounded a little uneasy, or uncertain or something. "Aren't you going to turn back? It's the guys who generally wear black-and-white, not the girls."

I looked up. Now, technically I can speak English as a skunk, I just usually don't. "…It's complicated. Suffice it to say, stuff happened, and if I turn back now, I'll get an upset stomach. Could someone carry me and hand me off to Kid or Hotaru, whoever we run into first? I can't walk that fast."

Soul picked me up, and we walked over to Kid and the Thompsons. Kid explained what was up for the party.

"Please, come inside! My father will be giving his greeting shortly."

"Yeah, sure. Hey, Kid, here – you can hold the skunk." Soul all but dropped me into Kid's arms and wandered off.

I looked up at Kid's face. He looked worried about something.

"Hey, you're Emiko, right?" Liz stared into my face. "How come you're a skunk right now?"

I sighed. "I don't know how many times I'll be able to tolerate someone asking me that without wanting to spray. I've got this issue, it's not common knowledge, and it had triggered while I was on my way here. If I return to human form too soon, I'll get an upset stomach." I sighed again. "At least I managed to keep my hair ribbon, so I'm at a minimum a dressed-up 'tame' skunk. Hey, Kid, is my bow straight? I had some difficulties getting here without the thing coming completely undone."

I distracted him from whatever brooding he was in. "Hm? Oh – oh, dear, it _is_ a little crooked. Patty, do you mind?" He set me into Patty's hands with my back to him and started fussing with the ribbon.

"Don't take too long about it: you did say your dad would be appearing shortly."

"Hold on, hold on…there!" I felt him give the bow one last tug and dust off the sides. "It's perfect." Then he took me back from Patty and just stood there stroking my fur.

When Lord Death appeared, Kid took his place on the stage, still holding me. I think he was taking comfort from my being there. That said plenty to me – something had rattled him that much that he was willing to hold a skunk like a security blanket. At least I'd picked a red ribbon instead of a pink one.

Though when Lord Death finished his very short speech, I noticed that Kid looked even more down than he had earlier; what was up with this boy?

Then Kid set me down at his feet and made a little announcement of his own. I debated whether I should stay there and risk Kid forgetting I was there and tripping over me or worse, or wander off to try to find something to eat that hadn't once been alive…while I was still a skunk.

Then Black Star somehow ended up on the curtains over Kid's head, crowing for attention. I set one little hand on my long face. _Black Star…I still hate you, and if you were down here, I'd spray you._

Then I had to dodge out of the way as suddenly Black Star and Kid got into a fight right where I had been. I waddled over to the stairs leading off the stage and paused. Going down stairs as a skunk was iffy; there were odds I'd overbalance and roll to the bottom instead, and that was an indignity I wasn't interested in suffering here.

* * *

Finally the scuffle was over, and Lord Death gave us all permission to do whatever we were "in the mood for." I looked over my shoulder. "Hey, Kid! Do you think you could be in the mood to carry me down the stairs? I want to get something from the food table before Black Star eats it all."

He got me down the stairs…but then went back to the dance floor with Liz and Patty and proceeded to do some high-stepping dance where they had to match him. I waddled off shaking my head. Then I got to Black Star, who true to his declaration was sitting on the floor stuffing his face. I poked his leg. "Hey, Mister I-Can-Reach-The-Top-Of-Every-Table-In-The-Room…can I have some of that?"

"Hm?" He stared at me.

"And preferably _not_ some bone you've already mostly cleaned off? I might be a skunk right now, but I've got standards."

"Oh, yeah, sure!" He passed me a sandwich that he'd collected…that he'd technically taken a bite out of, but I wasn't going to be too picky, considering the last thing I'd eaten was a dead rat. I took it and waddled off to eat in relative peace.

While I was eating, I thought about my roadkill-cuisine problem. See, there was something odd about it; I'd never had trouble ignoring dead squirrels on the road before when I was human…the first time I'd eaten something dead, I had been exploring as a skunk at the time.

…That had been the snake.

And every time after that, if I noticed a dead animal nearby, I'd get a compulsion to eat it, or to turn into a skunk and eat it if I was human, and it didn't matter if I wasn't particularly hungry. Hm…

Hotaru found me later and set a plate with some more food next to me. "Here you go." Then she asked in an undertone, "Found an appetizer before you got here?"

I swallowed and nodded.

"I thought so. It's the only reason you'd wear a fur coat to a party like this."

I sighed and settled onto my belly. "It's annoying."

"Bear with it, Skunky. In another hour give or take, you'll be able to become human again and then you can convince Kid to try some other dance." Then she wandered off.

I watched her. She was still wearing leather, but it was definitely shiny, and had way more studs than usual. _A fur coat…_ I sighed again and resumed eating. _How depressing._

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Mister Death Scythe was giving his attention to Maka and Soul. At least, I think it was Maka and Soul – they were on a balcony out of sight, all the scents were confusing, I was short, and I wasn't that good at sorting sounds. The end of that conversation was Mister Death Scythe dragging Maka onto the dance floor.

I growled into my food. _Not like _my_ dad ever stuck around. He probably doesn't even know I exist; he's too busy scheming up ways to capture more power._

Suddenly, my head came up. _Something's…not…right…here._

Then I saw Professor Stein dragging Doctor Medusa onto the dance floor. I just stared. "That's…a couple kinds of wrong."

_My uneasy feeling's coming from Doctor Medusa. What's going on here?_

_Still…two ladies have just been dragged unwillingly onto the dance floor._

I sighed. "And nobody will drag a skunk onto the dance floor, even a lady skunk. What a shame: I'd be quite willing to be dragged." I didn't have a watch, so I had no way of knowing when I could safely turn back. The best thing to do would be to be a skunk through the whole party. What a complete waste of a party.

"There you are, Emiko! I was starting to wonder."

I twitched and looked up.

Kid had just looked under my table! "Oh! Hi! Um…what's up?"

He started blushing. "Oh…nothing. Just…wanted to know if you were interested in…being carried around the dance floor. Unless you can turn back now, of course, in which case…we could dance."

_This. Isn't. Happening._ I lifted a hand and gently bit it. The scene didn't go away. "I'd…where turning back is concerned, I'd better not, but…I'd love to go dancing!"

Kid looked ridiculously happy. "Great!" He plucked me off the floor and wandered off among the dancers.

I straightened up in his arms and let my little hands rest on his chest, at least pretending I was participating in the dance. _The only thing that'd make this perfect is if I could dance with him for real._ And then I looked up at his face.

He wasn't looking at me; he was surveying the dance floor. And he had that worried look again.

"Kid?"

"Hm?"

"Is something bothering you? You've seemed distracted lately."

"Oh – it's…it's nothing, really."

I wished I had eyebrows. Hotaru's called me the master of the admonishing eyebrow cock. One good look with that face and he'd be spilling all his secrets.

Then I got that uneasy feeling again. I felt all the fur on my back lift.

And Kid felt it, too. I was sitting on his right wrist and his left hand was on my back, so of course he felt it. "Emiko, is something wrong?"

I stared up at him. The irony wasn't lost on me. Then I dropped my nose and stared at…I don't know what that piece of male wardrobe is actually called, it looked like some kind of handkerchief dangling in a fancy manner from his collar. "What _isn't_ wrong? Very little has gone right in my life."

"Well…what caused your fur to move?"

I sighed and chose to answer cryptically. "Something bad is going to happen very soon."

Kid just gave me a sad look. "You feel it, too?"

I just nodded, choosing to let him believe we were feeling the same thing. For all I knew, we were.

And the feeling was just getting worse. Come to think of it…my head started snapping around, and an odd little voice in my head – the skunk's mind, or something – started talking to me. And the scariest thing was what it was saying.

"_Where's the snake? Where's the snake?"_

* * *

**A/N: The full story of Emiko's dad will come later…along with an explanation of those odd little reactions of hers.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**A/N: I already named Emiko as the last person to speak in Chapter 6, so now I'll only say who's talking at the beginning of a chapter if it wasn't the same person who was last named in previous chapters.**

* * *

Then Sid the undead teacher came in, shouting for an evacuation! We came running over, along with Soul, Maka, the Thompsons, Professor Stein, Black Star, Tsubaki and Hotaru.

Stein yelled out for Medusa, but she was already gone!

I shivered, feeling my fur rising again. That odd voice shouting about the snake went quiet again. _That was odd…_

Then energy started sparking all over the room!

Hotaru swiped me from Kid by the bow – at least she got me into her arms before I strangled – and glared around. "Are we going to get out of here, or are we going to let ourselves get trapped?"

Sid was working some resonance energy, and he said it would be close.

_Close indeed – all my fur's on end!_

Suddenly, open coffins appeared underneath each of us, and we all fell inside them! I was sharing space with Hotaru, while everyone else each got their own.

And the coffins weren't boxes – they were passageways!

Then we fell into a hallway below. I bounded off of Hotaru and rolled.

"The meisters landed on their feet," Soul remarked, "and the weapons didn't. Guess we really are different."

Kid stared upwards. "I'm sensing some witch souls up there…one…two…eight of them!"

Suddenly I turned and stared at my fur. "_That's_ what I'm reacting to! I have sensitivity to witches!"

Soul stared at me. "What? You didn't know that before?"

"It's not like Hotaru and I have ever gone looking for witches before, this is the first time I've ever crossed paths with one, so to speak."

Then Kid added, "And the Demon Sword also."

Right about then, something shook the building.

"What was that?" Maka asked, "What are they doing up there?"

"Listen up, kids," Professor Stein got our attention. "We've got an emergency on our hands. Below the DWMA sleeps a kishin, the source of all madness in the world. You should know our school nurse, Medusa, is a witch. She snuck into the academy to revive the kishin. We must stop this at all costs."

Maka blinked. "Doctor Medusa is actually a witch, Professor? That's crazy!"

"And this kishin," Soul added, "how is this beneath the school?"

"It's true," Kid interrupted. "My father explained everything to me." He glanced at me. "I'm sorry I blew off your question, Emiko, but then didn't seem like a good time to try to explain." Then he returned to his explanation. "In order to keep the kishin sleeping safe and sound, my father cannot ever leave the academy."

"Huh?" Black Star sounded shocked. "So there's a reason Lord Death never goes anywhere? I always thought he just wasn't much of a people person."

"Let's get moving," Professor Stein stopped any further off-topic remarks. "We can't let Sid's quick thinking go to waste. All of you follow me – I'll take you to the entrance that leads underground."

Hotaru picked me up again, and we all started moving.

_I have sensitivity to witches…somehow, I'm not surprised, considering…_

The most chilling thing that Professor Stein said about what we had to do next was, "If you're not prepared for what's ahead, then you will die. If you want to turn around, better do it now." He looked back at us. "Are you prepared to fight against fear itself? If you cross beyond that door, let your souls make that decision for you."

Each of us got ready, completely determined to go through with this. Most of us swapped back to our normal clothing. Hotaru and I were the exceptions – Hotaru because there wasn't all that much difference between her dress clothes and her normal clothes, and me because, well…I was a skunk. She swapped jackets and I lost the ribbon, but that was it.

Maka spoke for all of us. "We're coming!"

Professor Stein grinned around his cigarette. "Good!"

* * *

As we ran down the stairs, Maka asked, "Hey, Kid, how was Lord Death able to seal away this Asura guy in the first place?"

"My father tore off Asura's skin, made a small bag out of it and stuffed Asura inside. Then he rooted his own soul and body into the heart of Death City to keep the kishin from ever breaking free."

"And because of that, Lord Death can never leave the city?" Black Star asked, probably clarifying. Personally, I was swallowing a few times trying to shove away the images that Kid's first words had brought into my head.

"What if the seal was broken," Maka went on, "and the kishin managed to get free? Would Lord Death be able to go wherever he wanted?"

Professor Stein answered. "That wouldn't work." I tuned out most of the answer, except for the last part. Something about Lord Death becoming one with Death City.

I tuned them out a bit. Instead, I did some introspection. _Let's…see…that rat was probably…about…just about long enough ago to where I could turn back. However, I don't have any clothing suitable for a running fight just now. What to do, what to do…_

"Hotaru, I'm turning into a rope dagger now."

"Got it!"

I made the shift. I had to warn her so that she wouldn't drop me – a rope dagger, even coiled up, has less mass than a skunk, and I'd have fallen through her hands.

The running seemed to go on forever. Then we stopped suddenly!

"There's a soul, just beyond those shadows," Maka told us.

Then Mister Death Scythe came out. I sighed and tuned everyone out.

Then Professor Stein told us weapons not to return to human form. He glanced in our direction. "In fact, Emiko, if you can use a katana while in skunk form, that'd actually be preferable. Low to the ground, it wouldn't matter how fast you were."

I sighed. _I just got out of that form!_ "_**I…**_**can**_** use a katana as a skunk, yes.**_" The two of us shifted simultaneously, and I grabbed the hilt in my teeth. "I c'n keef uf."

"Good."

Then footsteps started approaching. My friends got battle-ready, while I focused a tad on my form.

See, I'd figured out how to alter my skunk form just a little bit. It was hard, so I couldn't become, say, an anthro skunk the size of a human, but I could at least lengthen my legs enough to where I wasn't a slow-waddling black-and-white target.

"Who's it gonna be?" Black Star asked. I rolled my eyes and sniffed once.

Then I tensed._ I know that smell…_

"Someone who can attack and defend against several people at once," Professor Stein answered. "Someone who can attack multiple opponents simultaneously. Someone who will make absolutely sure no one gets through, no matter what."

Then we saw her. My nose had called it: Medusa.

"All right," Professor Stein suddenly remarked, "here's how I think this is gonna break down. For the most part, we can anticipate our enemy's moves. The first roadblock is going to be Medusa. The Demon Sword will be the second barrier. After that, the remaining two will be making their way to the kishin. The werewolf Maka and the others fought is immortal, so he'll be in charge of protecting the black blood at all costs. Now then, this is what _we_ will do: I'll stay here and keep Medusa busy. While I'm distracting her, I want the four of you to run past her as quickly as possible. Kid, you're the most mobile of our little army, so I want you to mobilize after the two who are heading for the kishin."

"Understood!"

"Black Star, you'll be keeping the Demon Sword busy so that Kid, Emiko and Maka can get through. Since you can attack with your soul wavelength directly, you can do the most damage to the Demon Sword."

"Yeah!"

"Finally, Maka and Emiko. You run past Medusa and the Demon Sword and destroy the black blood."

"Right!" Maka replied.

"O…kaay…I think I can be fast enough for that." I was holding the katana in my little hands so that I could say that clearer.

"There's just one last thing," Stein added, "I want you all to make me a promise. I want you to promise not to die. Can you do that?"

Two made affirmative sounds, Kid said "Yes, sir!" I just nodded.

"Holding a strategy meeting right in front of your enemy?" Medusa asked. "Is that really the best idea?"

I'd been wondering that myself, actually.

"Ah, well, I guess we'll just have to take our chances, won't we?"

_Stein…are you cocky or what?_

"Always so stupidly confident, aren't you? Shall we start the party, then?" Then she started chanting.

"Here we go," Stein called our attention to our task. "Don't worry about getting past her right away. Wait for an opening to present itself, stay calm and collected. Here goes!"

"Vector Arrow – times four!"

Arrow-streaks launched themselves at us!

I shoved Hotaru's hilt back into my jaws and started bounding forwards. I'd angled the hilt so that it wasn't at a right angle across my mouth…more like a twenty-five-degree tilt or something like that, so that the blade was pointing backwards towards my tail. That way, if something smacked the blade – way less likely in this position – it wouldn't send me for a spin and leave me open to an attack.

Kid got through first and called to us that he was going to keep moving.

Then Black Star powered something up hard and made it past as well – with a typical "Yahoo!" call afterwards.

_What a moron._

At least he turned off the Enchanted Sword mode before he wiped out again.

Maka made it through next. She still had longer legs than me.

Then…

"Vector Arrows, focus on Emiko!"

_Hoo boy…_

The best thing I could do was stay unpredictable in my movements. I just wasn't all that fast, even with the alterations!

_Veer left…veer right…veer left-right….right again…hard left…straight…_

_Straight…_

_FASTER!_

It hadn't occurred to me I could book it the way I did! I dashed right between her feet!

"Well, I hope you enjoyed those snakes you've eaten!"

_That was an odd thing to say…_

A sharp pain lanced through my stomach, making me stumble, but almost as soon as the pain started, it stopped!

I glanced back briefly. Professor Stein had just hit Medusa, making her lose her concentration on me. _Thank you, Professor._ Then I turned my eyes forward and kept right on running.

_I'm coming, Kid!_

I caught up to Maka, who'd stopped briefly for a breather. "Rapf nyou to 'Lack Sftar!" I yelled at her around Hotaru's hilt.

"You're on!" As we ran, she glanced down at me. "I didn't know a skunk could run that fast."

"_**They can't.**_" Using telepathy was simpler when I was trying to carry a sword. "_**I lengthened my skunk-legs. It takes a certain amount of soul energy, which is why I don't do it more.**_"

"Oh. …Here, let's save your strength." She swung Soul down and hooked his blade through the impromptu loop Hotaru made, lifting me off the floor and tossing me further ahead. I didn't fall far before she caught me.

We caught up to Black Star, who was getting ready to face off against that kid with the Demon Sword. Kid was nowhere in sight, so he'd apparently gotten past already.

Then Maka told Black Star to stand down, that _she'd_ take on this kid!

"Just take the skunk and stand back," she ultimately said to Black Star, holding me out with one hand under my stomach.

"All right, if that's how you're gonna be, the spotlight's yours! Be careful, don't make any stupid moves. Give me a shout out if you get into any trouble!"

_Egotist._

We started running after Kid. Well…Black Star was running. I'd carefully climbed onto his shoulders – carefully so as not to slice him with Hotaru – and was clinging to his shirt so that he could keep his arms back in the same position.

_Be careful, Maka._

Black Star leaped right over the kid's head! "See ya! Have fun!"

I just heard what the kid said in response. "It's okay, I can handle this."

…Actually, I fell off Black Star's shoulders when he leaped like that. He took off without me, and I had to run on my own power. At least Maka distracted the kid before he had a chance to attack me, so I had a chance to get away.

I couldn't _overtake_ Black Star: not fast enough. But I was definitely keeping him in my sight.

Then, finally, Kid's scent reached my nose.

_Even his scent's symmetrical, somehow! …Kid…I've got to get to Kid…_

_I'VE GOT TO GET TO KID!_

Don't ask me what happened. I apparently went into something resembling Black Star's "Speed Star" technique, which took my original alteration even further.

Before any change, my legs had been so short I had no choice but to waddle when I walked or ran. Then when I altered their length the first time, they were probably comparable to, um…I don't know…a bear's proportions? Or maybe a wolverine's.

Now…I was a long-furred, skunk-marked greyhound, or I might as well have been with that leg-to-body ratio!

I tore past Black Star, taking long strides I hadn't thought were possible in a skunk form!

"Whoa! Hey, no stealing the spotlight!"

_I don't want the spotlight, thank you, Black Star…no, strike that. I only want the spotlight on a stage that you really had better not be interested in: Kid's eyes._

"_**Emiko, how are you doing this?**_" Hotaru shrieked.

"_**No idea! Just go with it!**_"

* * *

I heard loads of explosions up ahead after a bit. _Sounds like Kid found a ton of bombs and managed to set them all off. At least this means there won't be any targeting me when I catch up._

Later, I found wreckage. _And…this must be where all those bombs were. I must be getting close!_

Then – I only had a second's warning before suddenly an explosion smacked me!

It had just about used up its power by the time the shockwave reached me, but it still sent me flipping head over tail.

"_**Emiko, are you okay?**_"

"Yeh, _**I'm fine. But I'm not sure Kid's okay, and if I'm going to keep up this Speed-Skunk form I'm wearing, I've got to keep moving!**_" I started running again, following the crater that had been left by the explosion.

That was actually instinct that told me I couldn't keep the Speed-Skunk form if I was holding still.

_Kid…_

I caught up in time to see him fighting the immortal werewolf! He'd just gone into Execution mode – the last time I'd seen him do that was when he'd been fighting Soul and Black Star!

_I'd better find a safe place, or I'll get hit by the energy from that thing!_ I bounded up on debris and headed past the werewolf. _Got to get at least next to Kid if I'm going to avoid getting hit!_

As it turned out, the cannon didn't work, and the werewolf lunged for Kid!

Kid managed to dodge the swings and leaped back to a better position. I could tell from his face that he was thinking, and thinking hard. Then…he went a little crazy and fell to his hands and knees. _This place must be making him stir-crazy,_ I thought, glancing around at the rubble, _not a point of symmetry to be seen._

I ran for a midway point between the two.

"Now there's an interesting sight," the werewolf declared, "a skunk with a sword!" Then he said the fatal words: "Are you a witch?"

I stopped cold, turned my back on him, looked over my shoulder and sprayed him in the face.

…Actually, I probably would have done that even if it had been an ally who'd asked the question. Being called a witch is just…a nerve.

"Emiko!"

I looked up. Kid was holding his nose, but he looked happy to see me anyway, and at least the smell had distracted him from the room.

I trotted over to him, dropped Hotaru and licked a bead of sweat from his face. "Hey, Kid. How are you holding up?"

"Good…more or less."

"Sorry about the smell…that question he'd asked bothers me."

I felt my legs start returning to normal. _Wait, wait, wait, stay at the point I'd told you to be before I went past Medusa!_ My legs stopped shrinking at Wolverine Proportions – _whew._

Then Black Star came charging in, colliding with Kid and shouting that he'd caught up to us. _Good grief._

Liz seriously amused me with the very next thing she said. "_**Hey, Kid! That man's got a ball and chain on his **_**left**_** foot, but not on his **_**right!**"

_Yup – that'll get him fighting the monster._ I smirked and picked up Hotaru again.

Black Star and I rushed for the werewolf, while Kid started shooting interference for us. Then we swung our respective blades – a deliberately wild form for Black Star, a wild-by-necessity form for me – and the werewolf was dodging every swing!

Then, suddenly…Kid walked right up to the werewolf! "Now I see, he tricked us!"

"You want me to tear you up?" the werewolf threatened.

"Into eight pieces, if you don't mind. Go right ahead, I won't stop you."

I blinked at him. _Kid…what are you doing?_ Then I dropped Hotaru. "Somehow, I knew he was going to play the eight card."

"_**Yeah, for real – that guy's obsessed.**_"

"Oh, wait: in your current form, you can't touch me, can you?"

Then the guy returned to a human form and Kid walked right into him, showing him up to be an illusion!

Explanations were given. Then Kid and Black Star started arguing. Black Star hadn't noticed any problem when he'd stabbed the guy with no resistance!

I sighed, walked a couple paces so that I was standing between the illusion's feet, and lifted my tail. "First time for everything; Kid, hold your nose, would you?"

"Hm? Oh – egh!"

Black Star never saw it coming. I decided to be fair to Kid's symmetry and aimed for the absolute center of his throat. And while he was reeling from the smell, I picked up Hotaru again. "Come on, you two. Let's catch the black blood."

"Hold on, Emiko," Kid picked up his skateboard and then we all set off. "How come _you_ hadn't noticed the difference?"

"_**Actually, I did…instinctually. He had no smell, even after I sprayed, and he didn't react to the smell afterwards like you did. I'm…not sure why I didn't say…a..ny…thing…**_" Then I remembered. "_**Oh yeah: I'd been too upset over his question to truly think.**_"

"Oh. Note to self: referring to you as a witch gets you far too upset to think. Good to know."

I flinched, but didn't say anything else. After all, what was the point? Kid was simply vocalizing what I'd just said into his head.

And now, I just hoped we could reach the two up ahead in time.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**A/N: In honor of this being the eighth chapter, I'm telling from a **_**very specific**_** POV. ;)**

* * *

**Death the Kid**

I burst through the doors on my skateboard. There was the werewolf and the witch, the latter holding a large syringe filled with black blood!

My first attempt to collide with the witch failed, as the werewolf got in my way. I shot up and hovered upside down from the ceiling, but suddenly I saw – something – wrapped up in bandages!

The bandages shot forward and tied my legs up, leaving me no choice but to shoot at him, whoever he was, trying to make him release me; however, none of my shots were working!

_Who is this mummy guy?_

He tied me up and brought me before his face. I closed my eyes. _Calm down; this is probably brought on by the wavelength of the kishin's madness. You felt it plenty of times on the way down here. It's only a hallucination!_

Freed, I fell back to the floor, but the witch was running for the bag with her syringe!

I was shooting after her, but the werewolf was in the way. All part of the plan, of course – while he was blocking me, he couldn't move, so Black Star and Emiko could run past me after her!

Black Star tore past me. When I warned him of the hallucinations, he told me his sixth sense was worthless and he could barely feel the madness. _Excellent._

I didn't dare look for Emiko, who would have required looking down to spot and was slower than Black Star anyway.

…Actually, I wasn't sure she'd even come in with us. With her speed, it was possible she'd get here after everything was over.

One way or another.

It was chaos back there, and the frog-witch had hit the bag with the syringe! "Black Star, you've got to destroy the syringe now!"

And he actually did it! "There's no kishin revival today!"

Then I heard the clang of a dropped weapon behind me. "Oh no," came Emiko's voice. "I got here too late."

Everything was coming undone. Ironically, Black Star's desperation had left him vulnerable to a hallucination that made him think he'd accomplished his task, but in reality he'd sliced the shrine holding the bag.

"No, no that can't be right!" Black Star fell to the floor. "We…we failed?"

I glanced at Emiko. The symmetrical little skunk was shaking in her fur, Hotaru lying in front of her in weapon form.

Then I rushed forward a bit and started shooting at the bag. "Die!"

"Kid, stop it!" Emiko called to me. "It's no good, nothing even a Reaper's son can do will stop this now!"

When the smoke cleared, the bag was still unharmed!

Then something started altering the shape of the bag: the kishin getting its skin back on!

I felt the light tap of the flat of a blade against my ankle. "_**Kid…**_" Emiko spoke into my head from her place between my feet. "_**I'm…I'm scared.**_"

Slowly, the strange form got to its feet. He approached the witch. They stared at each other's faces for a second and then both started screaming!

"He's scared of Eruka?" I couldn't believe it! Of all the people in this room, she was probably the one who looked the least threatening, with Emiko being a close second!

Then Black Star chose to rush the kishin!

"Come on," I told Liz and Patty, "we're going, too!"

"'_**Kay!**_"

"_**Yeah!**_"

I shifted my stance and felt my heels touch Emiko's sides. She hadn't moved. Would she?

Black Star engaged the kishin first, but his attacks didn't seem to be having any effect! Then some energy wave knocked him away!

"Black Star! Damn it!" I started firing rapidly, but all he did was stretch some of the skin on his arm back and let it fly at me, smacking me on the forehead!

Then I…I don't remember what happened.

* * *

**A/N 2: Shorter chapter. I had to stop when Kid passed out.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

**Emiko**

Kid collapsed from over me, and I heard Liz scream his name. I didn't move. I couldn't! The sight of that freak yanking on and stretching his own skin was just horrifying me, and my size didn't help!

He managed to create something like clothing from his skin…and then he spoke. "Nakedness is so wrong! I need to cover up."

I missed the last thing he said before he launched himself through the ceiling. Frankly, his voice was what had gotten me to drop the fear; while he _looked_ horrific, he _sounded_ like a complete derp.

Then Maka rushed in, leaped and grabbed one of those fleshy strips, screaming "Get back here!"

I stayed with Kid. I wandered over to his head and nosed him so that he was looking at me.

The place where he'd gotten hit…there was a strange eye mark.

_I hope the reason he passed out was because this mark was put on his face just off-center and not for any more sinister reason._

I grabbed hold of his collar in my teeth and gave some experimental tugs, trying to figure out how far I could pull him.

Then Free actually addressed me. "You might as well return to your human form, if you have one: Asura's up there, and so we will we."

Eruka turned into a frog and hopped up onto Free's shoulder, and he leaped into the hole in the ceiling before I could react to the presence of a frog.

With a sigh, I returned to my human form. "Kid...please, wake up!"

After pleading for a minute with an unconscious boy, I gave up.

Tsubaki, Liz and Patty regained their human forms. The twins started carrying Kid, and Tsubaki started trying to coax Black Star to consciousness.

When Hotaru took on her human form, I glared down at my dress. "And Kid never got to see me wearing this."

Hotaru set her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll get to next party."

* * *

A few days later, we went to hang out with the other guys who'd gone on that mission, minus Liz. The lot of us were playing basketball together, even though I didn't have a clue how to play. I was on the same team as Kid.

Granted, I was left uneasy when Soul suggested a punishment for the losing team…though Kid's reaction to learning that the penalty for his team's losing was a piece of symmetry in his house being lost was kinda funny…

Then Black Star declared that their team's loss-penalty would be for Maka to spend the whole day with her dad.

I was amazed that Black Star was giving up the spotlight of team captain to Maka, though his reason was actually pretty sound. He'd forced her into the game, so he was going to give up the title to her to make it up to her.

The game started slowly. I glanced at Maka. _Well, at least each team has one person who doesn't have a clue how to play this sport._

I did my best to follow the ball's motion. I barely heard Hotaru explaining the concepts to Maka in an attempt to help her out.

Though in the end, Maka's team lost. Black Star, Soul and Patty were all chanting "Punishment!" Kid looked out of breath and relieved at the same time, while Hotaru was rolling her eyes at the three. Tsubaki mostly just wanted to let Maka off the hook.

Though…Maka was approaching her dad where the guy was standing on the sidelines. I ignored them; it wasn't my business.

* * *

The next day, I noticed Maka leading that demon-sword kid Crona around the school. Crona was hiding his face in Maka's back. When I approached them later, I learned that Crona was going to be enrolling at the school, but he was positive he wouldn't like it.

Plus…

I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the blonde woman with the eyepatch. Maka had told me her name was Marie, and that she was going to be a new teacher here. _What should I make of her? She's got the scent of one who's achieved Death Scythe level. The minute she finds out I can become a skunk…_

As it turned out, the subject did come up before Crona, Maka and Soul left on an assignment together.

"_Hi. My name's Emiko. As a student, I'll admit I'm a little odd; no ordinary meister would resonate with me, so I had to be paired with another weapon who also didn't really resonate with any of the meisters the year we joined."_

"…_Your hair…it reminds me of something…"_

"_You, um, saw me when you were blocking our way to the kishin." This was dangerous territory…_

"_I did? …You were…I saw a skunk briefly while I was down there, are you saying that was you?"_

_With a sigh and a wary glance at Marie, I nodded._

"_Does…does that mean you're a…a witch?"_

_Marie recoiled._

_I sighed again. "I understand you're both new here, so I'll only say this once. I'm not a witch. And if I hear any rumors to that effect around the school," I turned a stern eye to Marie, "then I'll assume the rumors originated with you, and I'll skunk you the first opportunity. Got that?"_

_I actually got Marie to stiffen and salute. "Yes, ma'am! I understand, ma'am!" Though then she fell out of attention and asked, "Does…does Lord Death know about…"_

"_My extra form? I'd like to say no, because he never asked and I never told; but at the same time, it's kind of an open secret in the first place and this is Lord Death we're talking about." I cast a glance at Crona, who was watching me warily from behind Maka. "Don't worry, I know it's unlikely you'll even speak two sentences in a crowded room, let alone spread rumors. You don't have anything to fear from me."_

"_Oh. Okay." His voice was very small._

I sighed at the memory. It was only a matter of time before someone asked me why witches were such a sensitive subject for me, and I was betting the one to ask would be Kid.

* * *

That evening, I was getting ready for bed and speculating on my back's itching all day. I'd just yanked my shirt off when I heard Hotaru gasp from where she was sitting on the bed behind me.

"Hotaru?"

"Um…Emiko…I didn't mean to look, but now that I have, I think I know why your back was itching so much."

A feeling of foreboding hit me. "Yeah?"

I heard her get off the bed and walk up behind me. Then she set her hand against my back.

And if Hotaru's gasp had been my first hint, that touch was my second: I couldn't feel Hotaru's skin when she did that, just the warmth of her hand. It felt more like the times that Hotaru had picked me up…when I was a skunk.

That feeling came…from…having a layer of fur…between her skin and mine.

"Hotaru? Do I have fur back there now?"

After a long silence, Hotaru finally answered. "Yes."

_It must be the madness wavelength reacting off of…_"…Wonderful."

* * *

**A/N: I know I've been dropping hints all through the fanfiction. Don't worry, the story will come.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

* * *

I went to visit Maka while she was in the hospital. I could smell – far more strongly than I feel like I should have been able to – that she'd gotten tagged by something spider-witch related, and she now couldn't move. Soul was trying to feed her, though she was protesting she could feed herself.

Then Black Star jumped over and was ready to sign her face, declaring that his autograph would help her recover faster than any food. Good grief.

Actually, it might help her snap out of whatever was keeping her from moving, if only to give him one of her famous Maka Chops.

She didn't manage to move, and he put his signature on her forehead along with giving her a mustache. "As soon as I'm able to move, you're going to pay for that, Black Star!"

I reached over and dragged the laughing self-proclaimed ninja off the bed. "You're annoying, mister."

I wanted to tell them. But I didn't want to be looked at by a nurse, because I didn't think there was anything anyone could do about it.

And Kid had just organized the medicine bottles symmetrically. I sighed and rolled my eyes, though I was smiling all the same. He looked so happy that I just couldn't help but smile.

Then Sid came in asking to speak with the nurse – Naigus, I think her name was. Black Star and Tsubaki followed them out into the hall.

I sighed; the nurse was gone. "Well, now that they're gone, there's something I really ought to tell you lot." It had been a few days, so…I'd mostly come to terms with it.

Mostly, see, because it had spread.

Well, I had all of their attention. "What is it, Emiko?" Soul asked.

"My…bad reaction to being called a witch…really needs an explanation."

Kid walked up behind me and set his hand against my shoulder. "No explanation is required. You'd probably gotten that reaction for years, and it's likely gotten extremely old..."

I flinched away, causing him to trail off. "No, Kid; even though that's true, I do need to explain this. See…my father…I never knew him personally. My mother wasn't married to him, and, ah…" I glanced at Maka. "Let's just say it wasn't a love match."

Ragnarok straightened up a bit over Crona's head. "Well," his high voice rang out. "Your story just got interesting! Let's hear the rest of it!"

I sighed again. "My mother was attacked and raped. She'd been separated from her meister at the time, and she never said what had caused that separation, though I got the sense that it had been an argument. She'd have been killed if her meister hadn't come back and driven off the attacker."

"That's awful!" Maka exclaimed. "My dad might be a jerk, but at least he's never been _that_ bad!"

"The attack set her back a long ways in becoming a Death Scythe, in no small part because she wound up pregnant with me. She never blamed me for it, and she told me she had no regrets in keeping me, as long as…well. My birth father went underground, so Mother never got the chance to kill him. She has very high hopes that I'll avenge the indignity she'd been put through."

After a few seconds of silence, Crona spoke. "But…what's this have to do with you being called a witch?"

I closed my eyes. "My birth father's name is Rakhishu. Does that name ring any bells to anyone?"

Maka and Kid both gasped, while Crona shivered and Ragnarok set a ball-fist at a spot on his face that was about approximate to a mouth.

Kid was the one to say it. "Rakhishu's a sorcerer! He gains power from his victims, and if his soul were ever to be obtained, it would be equivalent of a weapon capturing the soul of a witch!"

"Hence the reason I can become a skunk as well as a weapon. Mother's not sure why my animal form's a skunk, when that wasn't what _he_ could become, but her theory is that an animal form can only be shared across families, and then only under very specific circumstances that I hadn't matched. As it is, my animal's at least in the same family group as his: I remember something about his escaping in the form of a weasel."

Liz touched her chin. "So the reason you're so sensitive to being called a witch…"

"…Is because the statement is half right. I'm a half-witch." I sighed. "Being able to turn into a skunk is fun, don't get me wrong, but it has its issues. One of the first things I learned was that I'm way slower as a skunk. The second thing I'd learned was a far more unpleasant surprise, and the first thing I found I'd need to control: an attraction to…dead things." I shuddered. "Let me correct that phrasing: a _hunger_ for dead things. The first time I went exploring as a skunk, I came across a dead snake and swallowed the thing whole."

That got a room full of recoils, except for Maka who couldn't move although her face suggested that she wished she could.

"As soon as that happened, I morphed back and got my second nasty surprise. I got an upset stomach from what I'd done."

Suddenly, Patty pointed at me. "When you showed up at the party as a skunk and said you couldn't turn back yet!"

"Bingo: I'd encountered something the skunk couldn't resist. And that leads me to a new revelation that I actually had at the party. Lately, every time I come across a dead animal, I'm compelled to eat the stupid thing, which is why I've excused myself from all of Professor Stein's dissections. I never had that problem before that first one, and after we'd run past Medusa and chased the black blood, I'd drawn a conclusion." I looked around at the lot. "I think two things regarding that first snake. First of all…" I shuddered. "…that first snake wasn't dead…"

That alone got a grimace from Liz, and possibly from someone else who wasn't in my line of vision.

"And second…it was one of Medusa's."

With that declaration, I walked over to a corner and just stood there with my back to them. This is strategic, readers.

Ragnarok was the next to speak. "Well, Skunky, that was certainly an interesting tale, and just as a side note of information, I do remember hearing Lady Medusa saying something to that effect once."

I sighed. "Not that you'd actually tell me, but did she say how many she'd, ah, arranged for me to eat? When she was about to hurt me before Stein engaged her in combat, she'd mentioned 'all' the snakes I'd eaten, and that implies more than two."

"Mmmm…" I didn't turn around, but I figured he was faking tapping his chin. "She _might_ have mentioned it, but _I_ certainly don't remember."

I shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. At any rate, not beyond the fact that the mixed blood I have, plus the witch spells that have been force-fed to me, are reacting to the madness wavelengths to a certain extent."

"Wait, what?" That was Soul.

I decided now was the best time to drop my bombshell. I yanked my shirt off, keeping my back to them.

I heard Maka's voice start to say my name angrily, but it died before she got the last syllable out. I could feel everyone's eyes on my fur, with the line only broken by the strap of my bra.

"I don't know if the process can be reversed. My only theory is that if I become a Death Scythe, I can manage to cough up the snakes Medusa gave me and return to normal." I pulled my shirt back on and turned around, my expression hard. "And the witch soul I shall claim to do that will be Rakhishu's, thereby finishing what he'd started when he targeted my mother." With that last shot, I walked out the door. _There. I did it. I gave them every secret I've ever had. And the only opinion I'm worried about is Kid's._

I heard the door open and close behind me. I didn't stop, but I was walking slowly. I took a deep breath. _Kid._

"Emiko…"

"Hm?" That was when I stopped.

He didn't say anything else. He just walked up behind me and stopped.

After a second, the silence got to me. "Was there something you wanted to say?" I turned around, hoping that his expression wouldn't be one of revulsion or pity; I didn't think I could handle either of those.

It wasn't. In fact, I didn't really get a good look at his expression before he hugged me, just as suddenly as the first time I'd hugged him.

I froze. Of all the stuff I'd been expecting, that wasn't it.

"I don't condemn you for your blood, Emiko." Kid spoke over my shoulder, practically right into my ear. "None of that was your fault. I also don't condemn you for ending up with some spells of Medusa's within you, even though it means I won't…" his voice got lower. "…I won't kiss you again until you've managed to rid yourself of them; the risk would be rather greater than it's worth, even though Medusa's gone. That you ended up with her spells was just some bad luck."

I felt one of his hands slide down my back. "And as for…" Before I could truly react, his hand was under my shirt and against the fur on my back. "…as for your new fur, it's perfect. I can't hate it."

"Perf…" my voice trailed off. _Of course. The stripes. They're symmetrical, aren't they?_

Having made his point, Kid let go and removed his hand from under my shirt, stepping back. Weirdly enough, I hadn't minded having his hand there.

"If it should disappear, I…will probably be disappointed."

_At least he's honest._

"However, I accept whatever will happen."

"Kid…" I reached forward and caught his hands. "Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that."

He smiled back at me, giving my hands a gentle squeeze. Then he suddenly dragged me down the hallway. "Come on, let's find you as many kishin-egg missions as possible to get you ready to take on Rakhishu!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

* * *

The day Maka was finally recovered, Stein had her, Soul, Black Star, Ox Ford and another guy I missed the name of practicing something called Duel Arts. It involved resonating as a team. I glanced at Kid. "Hey…that day I had to save you from falling off the top of a building, had we been…"

He glanced back at me. "We were. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough to where when necessary, Hotaru could use Liz and Patty in combat."

As it turned out, the five down below us wound up fighting each other instead of Stein. I sighed. "Well…" I didn't finish the thought, which was "_When four guys are involved, it's only natural that reason goes out the window."_ After all, Kid wasn't like that…usually.

A few days later, Kid passed me a handful of papers. "Here. I went through the list of known kishin nests and selected a few that I believe you can handle at your current skill level. You are almost two-thirds of the way to your current kishin goal, after all."

"By now, it _is_ two-thirds," I absently said while I flipped through the small stack. "The last few missions Hotaru and I went on, she told me I could have the souls because I had a driving force behind my wanting to go after a witch while she didn't. I now have sixty-six." I glanced up. "Are you sure you're fine helping me become a Death Scythe? I mean, shouldn't you be helping Liz and Patty?"

"You want to return to normal. I'm merely giving you a little help towards that."

"Hm." I went back to studying the named kishin.

"Besides, I'm not going to be here tomorrow; Dad has requested that I go check on something for him."

I stopped moving. "Oh?"

"I can't go into too much detail about it. Suffice it to say that he's concerned something highly dangerous could fall into Arachnophobia's hands."

I remembered Stein mentioning that group. I remembered that so well because when I first saw the chalk spider on the blackboard I'd worried that he was going to suggest another stupid dissection.

I looked up again, straight at his golden eyes. "Well…be careful, okay? Or at least, don't take too many unnecessary risks."

A smile crossed his face. "Understood." Then he turned and started walking. After a second, he paused. "I must admit, ever since I met you I was always a tad envious."

"Huh?"

He looked over his shoulder at me. "You have stripes in your hair, just as I do; however, yours are actually symmetrical."

I gave him a wry smile. "That always bothers you whenever you happen to be reminded, hm?"

"No matter how many times I try to dye my hair, these asymmetrical stripes always come back!"

"Would you feel better if I dyed my stripes to match you?"

I'd been kidding, but suddenly Kid was hanging onto my shoulders staring into my black eyes. "Don't listen to my complaining, I'd very much prefer it if you kept your symmetry!"

"For the record, that was a joke…sort of." Kid's intensity was…wow.

After another second of his staring at me, he sighed and let go of my shoulders. "I understand. You're anxious about me and about how you're being affected by the coming dilemma, so you're trying to stay light."

I started fussing with my hair. "Yeah…that still doesn't excuse the fact that I know you're very serious where symmetry's concerned and I shouldn't have tried to joke about it. I'm sorry."

"No worries." Then he turned and walked off, waving a hand over his shoulder. "See you in a couple days!"

I waved back. Then I realized I'd forgotten to give him something…after he'd already gotten too far away for me to deem it worth chasing him. I sighed. "Oh well…I'll give it to him whenever he gets back."

The papers had gotten dropped when Kid had grabbed my shoulders. I gathered them up. "Okay…I just need thirty-three more souls before I can even consider chasing after Rakhishu, wherever he went." I wandered off to find a desk where I could sort the papers.

* * *

I was still at the school when evening rolled around. I was doing research on a couple of the kishin I'd chosen to go after, so that I could be prepared. Then Kid came in. He didn't notice me, he just went straight for some books and started hunting for something.

I didn't speak. Whatever he was looking for was clearly something that was weighing heavily on his mind.

Ultimately he went up to the counter and got help finding something about a guy named…Eibon. I'd heard the remarks made about the book levels relating to stars on the student card, so I pulled my card out and studied it for a second.

_Two stars. I'm probably not high enough ranked yet to start hunting for Rakhishu in the archives._ I glanced at Kid. _Which means I shouldn't ask Kid who Eibon even is, let alone why he's researching the guy._

The book that could grant him his information was missing, and there was no signature on the last person to check it out, only the letter M. Hmmm…

The librarian walked away, leaving Kid staring at the paper.

"Ah…"

I got him to look at me as I stepped closer.

"May I see that paper for a moment?"

Kid handed me the thing without a word. I studied it. Just a barely-embellished letter M, next to an indicator that the book was checked out on the first of April. _The day the kishin revived._ Then I sniffed at it, letting my unfortunately-now-much-better sense of smell talk to me. _There's the librarian…and below that scent…_

I froze.

"Emiko?"

"I've smelled this smell only once before." I set the paper back on the desk and turned, leaning against the desk next to Kid. "I even remember when I smelled it. The first of April." I glanced at him. "It was coming from Medusa."

He stared at me in shock.

"You know," I remarked conversationally, "I'm really getting to hate Medusa."

"Likewise."

* * *

A while later, the group was playing basketball again. This time, Kid, Soul and I were sitting out. I was on Kid's lap as a skunk.

Crona was playing with the lot, though he was a very timid basketball player.

Kid ended up asking Soul how he was doing, reaching over and lightly knocking on the other boy's chest. "That wound you took in the chest."

Soul's basic response was that it was fine, and that dwelling on the past wasn't cool, especially when that fight had been lost.

Then Soul leaped up to go into the ball game, leaving Kid sitting with me.

Kid stared after him for a second, and then went back to stroking my fur while watching Soul showing Crona how to shoot hoops. Then he spoke.

"I think it's time we had another party."

I perked up under his hands. "Really? The last time, I hadn't been able to show off the dress I was wearing!"

He hefted me up and looked into my face, supporting me upright on his lap. He was smiling. "So you'll get another chance."

* * *

I did manage to get to that party without eating something nasty, so I was there in human form. It was exactly the same dress that I'd worn the last time: a sleek red drape of fabric with shoulder straps and an open back. That open back had been the only thing that concerned me, because it showed off all my new fur. But I'd managed to get a bra that didn't show and work it into my fur in such a way that it wouldn't press weird and reveal that the black and white wasn't just clothing, so I decided not to worry about it. Add the dress to some careful makeup, a nice blue choker pendant and a hairstyle that had taken a good fifteen minutes to finish, and I felt amazing. The only downside was the shoes; the ones I'd bought specifically for this dress, I lost the first time when I went skunk, and then I couldn't find them again. I was stuck wearing a pair of black flats that I felt didn't go with the dress all that well.

I saw Kid go over to talk to Crona, who was looking uneasy. He set his hand on Crona's shoulder with a smile. I was too far away to hear either of them. Then Black Star decided to be obnoxious. I sighed and wandered over. Although the end result was that someone fed Ragnarok and everybody started laughing a little. We'd pretty much established to Crona that we were his friends.

* * *

The party was actually a lot of fun. I'd encouraged Crona into a dance with me – though I'd had to instruct him on how he was supposed to act, apparently he'd never danced before – and gotten to dance with Kid at least twice.

Crona was invited to visit at Black Star's house next time, and they all struck out for their homes. I stood for a little longer and thought back over the dance with Crona.

_We stopped more or less in the middle of the dance floor._

"_Won't everybody be staring at us?"_

"_Everybody starts dancing in the middle of the floor, it's not that big a deal. Now you hold my left hand with your right."_

"_O-okay…" again, his touch was feather-light. I had to make sure that my hand was in his properly._

"_Now set your left hand on my waist."_

_His expression was miles of uncertainty. I caught his wrist and guided his hand to my waist. "Relax, I don't bite." Placing my right hand on his shoulder, I gently set us circling around the room._

_His hand did end up slipping onto my back at some point during the dance, although I had glanced at Ragnarok and saw that the little guy had given Crona's arm a bump to make his hand move. Crona had stiffened a bit when that happened, but when I failed to react, he relaxed again…or at least as much as he ever relaxed._

_Then he spoke, and it was the first he'd said anything since the dance had started. "Your fur's so soft."_

_I shrugged with a smile, like it was no big deal. "Skunk fur's pretty good."_

_Then the song had ended, and Kid had come over and pulled me away for a dance with him. And that had been a thousand times better than when I was a skunk._

"Emiko?"

"Hm?" I glanced over at Kid. "What's up?"

He smiled. "Shall I walk you home?"

I can't say I was expecting him to say that, but I was delighted that he did. "Okay!"

As we walked off, Kid glanced at me. "So, Emiko, how's your soul-hunting going?"

"It's doing all right; the number I have now is hardly symmetrical, but it's gotten bigger." I glanced at him. "Knowing the number isn't any of the symmetrical ones, do you want to hear it?"

He took a breath. "I…suppose."

I let a smile onto my face. "Seventy-three."

He grabbed hold of his head and let out a low groan, and yet somehow I heard something different in his voice…

I giggled. "You're being overly dramatic, aren't you?"

Kid looked at me again. "You're joking, right?"

"Yeah…it's actually seventy-two. At least it's an even number."

He relaxed a bit again. "Yes, I was being a…little overdramatic there."

"Kid?"

"Hm?"

"I…" my voice trailed off. After a couple seconds of silent walking, I admitted, "I lost my train of thought there, I'm sure I was going to say something to you."

Kid laughed a little. "Well, I'm sure you'll think of it eventually."

We got to my door without mishap, and turned to look at each other. Thanks to our conversation when I'd spilled all my secrets, I knew he wasn't about to kiss me, but I kind of wondered what he _was_ going to do.

What he did was hug me. But I didn't mind; it just left me more determined to become a Death Scythe and become safe for him to kiss.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

* * *

I had gotten leave from Professor Stein's Duel Arts class, because he'd tested me and Hotaru and found we'd already gotten the hang of resonating with others, though he did mention that I was somewhat better at it than Hotaru. "It must be your good nature."

I'd shrugged it off at the time, and used the free time to chase down those kishin from Kid's list.

Though…I still remembered when I'd achieved proper resonance with Kid; that had been one of the tests Professor Stein had set to me. He'd also had me try resonating with Black Star, and that hadn't gone nearly as well. Well, you readers already know how much I hate him.

Professor Stein did tell me that if I was going to be a good adaptive team member (that was going to be my purpose, slotting into each team as he saw fit, because Hotaru and I were the odd ones out in the division of the elite one-star students), I'd have to talk to Black Star about how we could manage to resonate together properly.

I'd agreed with a sigh. I waited until after Maka, Black Star and Kid all passed their actual Duel Arts test. Then I sought out Black Star.

I found him training again. "Hey, Black Star."

"Huh? Oh, hey Emiko. What's up?"

"Professor Stein said that if I was going to be a stand-in team member with Team Maka, I had to be able to resonate well with all the members. And of all of this team, there was only one I'd failed to resonate with." I pointed a finger at him. "In fact, out of all the elites in this school, you're the only person I failed to resonate with."

"Seriously, you've managed Duel Arts with everybody else at the school except me?"

I nodded. "I think it's because I've accepted that most of the students don't particularly like me for my ability to turn into a skunk. I already knew that I'd have no trouble with the rest of Team Maka, because they…they know me pretty well." I sat down next to him, and after a second, he sat down as well. Tsubaki knelt on Black Star's other side. "I've thought about our attempts at resonating. And I've pinned down what keeps happening." I pulled out a set of diagrams that I'd sketched up. They were rough, but they would help with visual aid. "Our souls would reach out to each other, and that's okay. But right at the point of contact, your wavelength would suddenly flux weirdly, becoming erratic and even stronger than it already is. Then my own wavelength pushes back, and the resonance fails." I looked up at him. "So basically, the reason we keep failing to resonate is both our faults. I think I know why I'm failing to resonate. It's because I'm resisting being taken over by your strength." I knew I was catering to his ego, but if it would help him listen I was all for it. "Perfect honesty, I don't like you, Black Star. There's a fine line between confidence and cocky, and you cross it far too often for my taste."

He looked at me, without his signature grin.

"I've tried to stay accepting of you, knowing it would make resonance easier, but then your wavelength goes into that weird flux and I resist all over again. The resonance problem's been starting with you, so I've got to ask, Black Star." I faced him square on. "Why don't you like me?"

He stared at me for a minute. Then he sighed, closing his eyes. "It's just that…the whole time I've been at the school, I was never sure what to make of you. I was positive that there had to be something wrong with you because you were partnered with another weapon instead of a meister."

I glared at him, but didn't interrupt.

"Then I found out you could turn into a skunk, and suddenly you got even weirder." He opened his eyes again and looked at me. "You freak me out, Emiko. I'm not sure why."

Then it was my turn to sigh. "You'd left Maka's hospital room before I'd told them my biggest secret, so you were left out of the loop. It's not something I tell everybody." I looked at him. "You want to know why I cause such a reaction to you, Black Star?"

Black Star studied me for a second. Then he showed a rare moment of actual maturity. "Yes. If we're going to be heading into battle again, we need to get that resonance to work. And that means at least figuring out a way past my own resistance."

I decided to just drop the whole thing on him like a bombshell. "I'm a half-witch. The witch blood is from my father. And by now, Medusa has managed to get several snake-spells into me, which are now reacting to the madness wavelengths that are starting to spread." That was it in a nutshell. Or a bombshell.

Black Star stared at me. "You're kidding, right?"

"About which part? The part where I'm a half-witch, or the part where the madness wavelengths are affecting me?"

"Both."

"My answer to both is, I wish I were. But having witch blood is why I can become a skunk. And as for the madness…" I pulled off my jacket.

I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that day, and my new fur was covering my arms all the way down to my elbows.

Black Star blatantly stared, and lifted a hand, only to hesitate.

"It's okay, you can touch it." I extended my arm to him.

He took hold of my arm carefully, pushing the fur around and studying it. Then he looked up at my face. "That's real."

"Yup. It's all over my back, too. My new nightmare is that I'll grow a tail."

I got him to laugh. At least, he laughed until he realized that once again, I was serious.

"So. You want to try the resonating again? Just you and me, I already know I can resonate with Tsubaki."

"Uh…sure."

We stood up and focused.

And finally, _finally,_ we achieved proper resonance.

* * *

A while later, we all set off for a northern island with a powerful device on it, to try to get our hands on it before Arachnophobia did. Because I was better at the whole duel arts resonance, I was the meister, with Hotaru a katana at my side. I was bundled up, but thanks to my fur, I was actually starting to feel a little too warm.

The magnetic field I'd heard about was leaving me feeling uneasy, and I hadn't even gotten there yet.

When we finally got there, I was amazed that I could see it. It was causing my fur to lift, which wasn't helping my temperature any.

I winced when Miss Marie and Professor Stein went through the field, because I saw and heard electricity spark when they did. It left me glad I was staying on this side. _Twenty minutes, tops._

Nothing_ takes twenty minutes._

We ended up warming our hands against one meister's partner, who was in the form of a lamp.

Black Star looked at me. "Hey, Emiko, how come you're all bundled up? You've got fur, don't you?"

"It's not exactly arctic protection, Black Star."

Then Maka declared that something wasn't right. Apparently she was able to hear Professor Stein's and Miss Marie's soul wavelengths even through the magnetic field, but something had happened to make them vanish.

Kid was about to go in alone, but Maka stopped him. Then Black Star ran over to them with a big grin on his face.

I sighed. "We're going in, aren't we?"

Then an army approached us!

Ox took them on, declaring that his team would remain outside to fight off these guys.

I heaved a massive sigh. "This is going to play havoc with my fur…"

We ran towards the magnetic field, leaving the battle behind us. I was shaking. We came to a stop just outside, and then walked through.

I was right: all my new fur was lifting because of this.

When we got through, it was to see a very tropical area! "What the…"

Then we saw Lord Death flying through the sky! He looked…different. Rougher.

"That's how my dad looked back before he started the academy," Kid told us. "Things were a lot different then."

As we approached the large pyramid-like building, I suddenly paused, sniffing. Then I glared over my shoulder. _I could have sworn I heard…_

"Emiko?"

I looked forward again. Kid had stopped and was watching me.

I sighed. "I just… …Hey, Maka."

"Huh?"

"Hold my hand, will you? With all these trees around, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some vermin out there, and I don't want to spoil supper."

Maka grimaced at the thought, but she took hold of my hand as we went further in.

The only reason I'd asked Maka instead of Kid is because I knew Kid was holding Liz and Patty, and he's got that balance obsession.

We got to the pyramid without my actually stopping for a snack. We found that the magnetic field had apparently frozen the events of the past, for what had happened the day of the explosion. Blurry images of witches from the past were wandering towards the pyramid…or was it away?

I rubbed my arm. "Trippy…"

We saw Arachne, and we heard her say something about blowing up Brew and the Reaper along with it.

Kid, naturally, wanted to know what was going on.

We finally found Professor Stein and Miss Marie, and we told them about how they had to leave now because of their twenty minutes being up.

Black Star's reasoning about our dashing towards the pyramid to search for Brew was, "We've already disobeyed orders, we might as well go the whole way."

I'd considered reverting to my Speed Skunk form. But lately I'd been extremely wary about taking on my skunk form any more than absolutely necessary.

We ended up stopping when a shorty walked into our path and actually acted like he'd noticed us. I was astonished when he pulled a stunt that inflated him to help him stay inside an extra ten minutes to fight us for his box!

Kid's only comment – I don't really remember what anyone else said – was "Not really an improvement." I personally agreed.

Right before a battle could start, Eibon warped between us! At least, that weird inflatable man said it was Eibon!

Kid was…shocked. That's the only emotion I could put on his reaction.

I won't go into the fight. The best part was when Kid finally joined in and started shooting. "Clearly this man lacks any sense of symmetry! Let's remedy that!"

_Oh, Kid…I love you._

And of course, Maka using Black Star's head as a step stool was pretty funny, too.

But nothing we were doing was leaving even a scratch on the freak!

Suddenly, my nose twitched. And a grin spread across my face. "So…" I stood from the last place I was thrown. "You think we look tasty, huh?"

I'd gotten his attention away from Team Maka.

"Well…you're starting to look mighty fascinating yourself…you bug."

I managed to keep hold of Hotaru. But that's about all I did. I actually…don't remember what happened next.

**Maka**

"Emiko, be careful!" Kid shouted. "You can't take him on alone!"

Suddenly, she…changed.

Her pants ripped as a long, black-and-white-furred tail emerged, and her face stretched outwards into something that looked far more like her skunk's face. And it was still grinning.

Then she leaped.

I think the only reason she landed a hit on him at all was because he was caught off-guard by her technique. For all that she was still gripping Hotaru's katana-hilt, she didn't use her weapon: she used her teeth, latching them into his arm when he blocked her.

"Hey," Black Star shouted, "is she _trying_ to steal the spotlight?"

"No…" I realized, "she's…the madness wavelengths! She's not in control!"

Then Soul told us a plan around the time Emiko was thrown back at us. Kid wound up catching her.

Soul's plan was so amazing that I had to start giggling. Black Star thought it was funny, too.

"You never wanted to play the piano, so we were going to trick you into it!"

"And now you're offering?" Black Star was grinning.

"We only have five minutes, though," Kid added, "so the concert will be rushed. Will this return Emiko back to normal?" She was still struggling, trying to get at our opponent even though Kid was holding her back.

"_**Possibly. I can't make any promises, but at least I should be able to get her on the same page as us so she won't be going against the strategy.**_"

"_**Please play,**_" Hotaru spoke from Emiko's hand. "_**Resonance is hard when she's doing this!**_"

Kid set a foot on Emiko's tail so that he could have his hands freed without her rushing forward. We needed to be in resonance link before acting.

The first chord resonated through all three of us! And glancing at Emiko, I saw that the fur on her tail and even her hair had lifted in response!

**Emiko**

_Piano music cut through the darkness. …Soul?_

_I felt Soul…Maka…Black Star…Tsubaki…Liz…Patty…Kid…Hotaru. All of us joined in a resonance link._

_Then I got a direction._

_**Dodge.**_

I leaped out of the way of an attack, sensing Maka and Kid doing the same. Black Star caught and blocked that attack.

We all proceeded to hammer on the guy, with Kid up on a pillar and firing, and the three of us blade-wielders practically in the guy's face. Back and forth, dancing to the piano music. In fact, I _was_ dancing, a continuous fluid line of movement.

Black Star pulled a powerful strike, followed by Kid, each directed by Soul's music. Maka dropped the finishing blow on the guy.

* * *

**Soul**

I was exhausted. Sweat dripped down my forehead. "One…one last thing…" I played a few lighthearted notes while we were all still in resonance. "Gotta…gotta help…Emiko. It wouldn't…wouldn't be cool for…that face to suddenly…show up at school." If nothing else…I had to get her face back to normal.

Then I convinced them that we had to withdraw. There was nothing else we could do.

Kid hefted Emiko onto his back and we headed for the magnetic field. She'd fallen unconscious when the resonance was over, but at least my song had helped her lose the tail and get her face back to normal, she'd be able to go to school without getting more than the usual stares.

We made it back outside the magnetic field, and Maka was given the task of reporting to Lord Death.

* * *

As we rode back in the boats, I looked through my scythe's eye at Kid, who had Emiko in a sitting position on his lap resting her head against his shoulder. "_**Hey, Kid, is Emiko okay?**_"

"She's fine, she's just tired." He looked at me. "Thank you, Soul."

"_**Hey, no sweat. I just did what I could.**_"

* * *

**Kid**

When we got back to the Academy, Miss Naigus had me take Emiko straight to the infirmary, while Hotaru went to get some of Emiko's other clothing. I'd…told Miss Naigus some of what Emiko had told me, along with the information about why Emiko's clothing was ripped. "Soul said he did what he could to return her to normal, at least so that she could continue studying at the academy without people staring at her."

I was speaking through the curtain as Miss Naigus got Emiko out of the cold-weather garb. Suddenly I realized I wasn't hearing any movement on the other side, and she couldn't have been done yet. "Miss Naigus?"

I heard first one thump, and then another. _Emiko's boots hitting the floor._ I was beginning to have a bad feeling. "Miss Naigus, Emiko's all right, isn't she?"

"I have just two things to say, Kid." Miss Naigus's tone worried me. "First of all, Emiko shouldn't have entered the magnetic field or gone anywhere near that witch's lair. Second…Soul didn't quite succeed in the task he'd set himself."

That stopped me. "What? But all that happened was she got a skunk's head and tail-"

"That's not all that happened." Miss Naigus pushed the curtain back. "In Soul's defense, he couldn't see past her gloves and boots, so how was he to know? She's modest," she stepped out of my way, "you can look."

I stepped slowly forward and looked.

Emiko was covered with a blanket. Her furry arms were lying on top of it, and her feet were showing.

Her feet had turned black, with clawed toes. And her hands…matched. They were still human hands and feet, but they'd quite distinctly become the extremities of an anthropomorphic skunk.

"Emiko…"

"Kid, you said her only theory for returning to normal was by becoming a Death Scythe, right? How close is she?"

"The last time we'd talked about it, she said she was at seventy-two. That number's probably grown since then, but I never heard her say anything about reaching eighty-eight or ninety-nine. Why?" I couldn't see her not using the chance to tease me by saying she'd gotten eighty-eight souls. She did still tend to tease me about my love of symmetry, but it was good-natured teasing.

"She'll have to exercise extreme care just going after kishin at this point, and attempting to go after that witch-soul will be a very risky endeavor for her, whether we're talking about her father or not. I want you to go along with her when she does that."

"Yes, Miss Naiga."

Miss Naiga left the room, and I watched her for a moment longer. She'd been dancing to Soul's music, and I never knew…I never even considered how proximity to a witch's lair would affect her.

I hoped she would be all right.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

* * *

**Emiko**

Yeah, I screamed when I saw what had happened to my hands and feet. They looked like that werewolf Free's!

Gloves became a thing for my wardrobe ever after.

While we were eating lunch, when Tsubaki mentioned that everybody got home without being hurt and Maka reminded us of how Professor Stein collapsed, I noticed Crona looking quite ill. He said he was fine, but I wasn't so sure. I sighed. "Personally, I'm rather unnerved about how I'd blacked out during the battle. You guys say I'd gone were-skunk and was still fighting, and only through Soul's piano-playing was I even remotely being helpful?"

I earned Crona's stare, while everybody agreed.

"Plus, Soul's piano-playing helped return you to normal so that you could keep coming to school," Maka told me.

I looked at my glove. "Um, actually, that's something I should tell you guys." I pulled off my glove.

Everything at our table stopped as they stared at my hand.

"I still have fur everywhere except my face, and now my hands and feet have changed." I sighed. "It's only a matter of time before I go were-skunk again." With that, I tugged my glove back on.

"Hey, sorry. I tried to get you back to normal."

"Soul, you got heads and tails in returning me. That alone was huge. I'm not blaming you for not realizing my hands and feet had changed, I was wearing mittens and boots."

Soul leaned on the table. "I still should have guessed."

I smacked his head. "Drop it. I'm just going to keep hunting souls to become a Death Scythe."

"Are you going to tell Lord Death about this?" Tsubaki asked.

"About what? Nothing's changed. Now, if I should happen to sprout a tail again, _then_ I'll tell him. Not before."

* * *

Kid was very distracted lately. I'd finally gotten at least part of the story about this Eibon person from him, and it left me kind of wondering, too. What connection was there between Lord Death and this creator of powerful magic tools?

When I'd learned that Kid was going to do some investigating, I'd bowed out, for two reasons. One, it was possible that there'd be a great exposure to madness energy, and I didn't want to risk another transformation. Two, I had souls to gather.

When I'd mentioned my Reason Two, he told me that Miss Naiga had asked him to go along with me on my witch-hunt mission.

"Well…thank you, Kid. I'll appreciate the company."

Actually, I was the only person Kid told that he was doing some investigating, and he swore me to secrecy. "It's too soon for the other students to be involved, and if you can't help me, then it must stay a solo job."

"Well, don't make it sound like I'm refusing to help out of spite," I muttered.

"Sorry. My father's secrecy has me edgy."

"Oh! By the way," I blinked at him, "has Lord Death been told about…" I pointed with a thumb over my shoulder at my back.

"Miss Naigus is the only adult who's aware, and she told me that where informing my father was concerned it was your tale to tell."

I smiled. "Well, then at the least, we have a secret over Lord Death. Turnabout's fair play."

I'd earned a smile from him for that, so I gave myself girlfriend points – almost as important as collecting souls.

I'd already been hunting souls diligently, but now I was going at it with a more desperate air. Hotaru was becoming a very steadying force.

* * *

Then, one day, a load of stuff happened. An energy wave started up from various points, and I learned that Medusa was alive, had surrendered to the DWMA, and was allowed to leave!

I watched her leave from next to Kid. I was growling softly under my breath, and I didn't even realize it until Kid suddenly elbowed me. "Lock it down, Emiko."

I gulped. "Sorry. That…that madness wavelength…"

He glanced at me. "How many souls have you collected lately?"

"Um…" I closed my eyes, shutting out my view of the tiny witch and sternly telling the rabid skunk in my brain to shut up. "…Eighty-something…I think."

"So you're almost there. You've been gathering souls at a rapid pace, then."

"Call it what it is, Kid." I turned away from the retaining wall and opened my eyes again. "I've been gathering souls in a mad panic."

"Emiko…"

I started walking away.

"Emiko," he grabbed hold of one of my gloved hands, pulling me to a stop. "I won't let you descend into madness. You realize that, right?"

I puffed out another breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I know." I looked over my shoulder at him and managed to pull a smile onto my face. "Thanks."

* * *

"_Haa!_" I struck down the kishin-egg and landed for a breather. "Is it just me, Hotaru, or is this getting easier?"

"_**You've been getting stronger, Emiko.**_" Hotaru turned back and watched as I morphed into a skunk to eat the soul. "Though I kind of feel bad bailing on class. I'm sure today had something important going on."

"You've said that every time we went out for kishin eggs lately." I gulped down the soul and continued. "Besides, now that I've gotten my ninety-ninth soul, we won't have to worry. I promised that I wouldn't leave the school for my witch-soul without Kid, and he's on another mission right now."

"Well, yeah, but I heard something about anti-madness whatevers before we left…"

I waddled over to her. "You'd think they'd bring something like that up weeks ago. It's probably just a sugar-pill to make people believe that they're immune to the madness."

"Maybe." She looked down at me. "Shouldn't you turn back now?"

I looked at a little hand. "Well, yeah." I focused and morphed back into my humanoid form. It was awfully hard to call it human now that I had fur everywhere and dangerous hands and feet. "There. Now we can go back. Hotaru, are we going to…" the rest of my sentence died as I looked at my partner's face. She looked horrified. "What?"

"I…think we should have stopped to see if those anti-madness whatevers were real."

I shifted my weight onto one leg, my hand on my hip. "Why?"

I never heard her answer, because right when I did that, something just tickled at my peripheral vision down by my legs, and I looked.

I now had a long, luxuriously-furred skunk tail.

"…Yeah…we'd better go talk to Lord Death."

* * *

I'd stopped off at our apartment to grab an old cape of mine. I'd made the thing myself a long time ago, back when I wanted to be a superhero – don't ask; it had to do with some old TV show. It had been too long for me then, and it was still too long now, but it did a decent job hiding my new…feature.

I also told Hotaru to stay behind. The story was mine to tell.

Walking down the hallway to Lord Death's little cloud-pattern domain always left me uneasy. It was the guillotines overhead.

Finally I got there. And there were mirrors watching locations all over the place. Mister Death Scythe was there as well as Lord Death.

"Lord Death, sir?"

"Ah, Emiko; nice cape. I was going to send you with one of these troops, but I couldn't get a hold of you."

"I wouldn't have gone."

He cocked his head. "Eh?"

Mister Death Scythe immediately started shouting. "You'd defy Lord Death? You little skunk-haired…"

Before he finished the sentence, though, Lord Death held up a giant hand in front of his face. "And what would your reason have been for not going?"

"Simple. I've been compromised. Medusa had infected me with some of her snake-spells a while back. Plus, the blood of a witch runs through my veins just as strongly as the blood of a weapon. Those two things together have been reacting to the madness wavelengths in a very unusual way."

"Oh? What way would that be?"

I unclasped my cape and let it fall to the floor. But I didn't turn my back on them. I didn't need to. My tail swished behind me in broad sweeps from left to right and back. It had taken some fussing to figure out how to move the thing, but I was glad I'd gotten the hang of it rather than just dragging it behind me.

Both men were totally silent for a few seconds.

"Miss Naiga had me promise not to go hunting for a witch soul until I could go with Kid."

"She knows, then?"

"She knew that my hands and feet had changed. The tail's a new development."

"Your…hands and…feet?"

I didn't bother kicking my shoes off, but I ditched the gloves.

"How much more of a transformation have you undergone?"

I sighed. "Fur; lots of it. By this point, I could probably strip and still be modest, _though I'm not going to,_" I glared at Mister Death Scythe.

Lord Death waved his hands at me. "Nobody asked you to, we're not about to offend your modesty." Then he cocked his head. "Although I have to wonder, are you still determined to become a Death Scythe?"

"More now than ever. I believe that the energy shock of becoming a Death Scythe will force me to cough up the snake-spells Medusa infected me with and return me to normal, or a Death Scythe's version of it, anyway. I even have a witch-soul pegged that I want to try to obtain." I knew my eyes were probably as hard as obsidian by now. "My traitorous father, Rakhishu. He _is_ still out there, isn't he?"

"Erm…yyyeeesssss…"

"I have ninety-nine kishin eggs. His soul is the last one I'd need." I turned around and picked up my cape. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to wait for Kid."

I walked off down the corridor, swishing my cape over my shoulders to once again hide my tail. Though I did hear Lord Death say something unsettling, and I didn't bother turning around because I doubted he'd answer my request for clarification.

"…But what if he doesn't come back?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I sensed that Kid was in danger about an hour later, but I didn't know what I could possibly do about it. I didn't even know where he was!

* * *

**Kid**

Thanks to that robot's warning, I decided that returning the magic tool to my father wasn't something I should do just yet.

I was directed to the secret vault, and I wasn't about to hand over the magic tool until I had some answers.

Of course, then my father blindsided me by being willing to talk about it when I asked. And as it turns out, the final magic tool _was_ Eibon! I didn't see that coming!

And when I asked, Father told me how he and Eibon knew each other.

Then Excalibur appeared, the absolute last person I wanted to see. At least he was providing more information.

Finally, business was resumed, and Eibon unlocked Brew.

Suddenly, right in the middle of my father using Brew and causing Death City to move…

"Kid!"

I turned around just in time to be tackled over by Emiko!

"Kid, I was so worried about you! I'm glad you're all right!"

I stared down the line of Emiko's back as she hugged my shoulders. She was wearing the most god-awful cape, but it had slid when she'd tackled me and revealed why she would wear something so hideous.

Now she had a skunk's tail.

"Such an unusual girl!" Excalibur exclaimed. "I wasn't aware Death was taking in witches."

Emiko froze. Then she glared at him, that long tail starting to lift. "Give me the excuse. Just do it!"

I all but panicked. "Excalibur, take that back! Anyone who calls Emiko a witch gets skunked!" An exaggeration, possibly, but…

Liz backed me up. "Right, she's not a witch, she's a half-witch! Completely different!"

He apparently remembered the time Emiko had sprayed him in the face, although he probably hadn't realized that wasn't a real skunk, because he flinched. "Ah, pardon my rudeness, young girl. My only exposure to people who could have animalistic traits has been witches. Truce?"

Emiko glared at him for a minute longer. Then she sighed, letting her tail drop again. "Fine."

We headed up into the Death Chamber and watched Death City's movement through the mirrors. Then Arachne's castle started moving as well! It made my head hurt.

Emiko watched for a second. "This is just ridiculous."

We ended up on the floor as Father was trying to hit that spider-castle. "Why can't I swat that darn bug?"

"Careful, Dad! Don't kill us!"

After a great deal of chaos, Father managed to capture the kishin, and consumed him whole, trapping him inside the city!

* * *

**Emiko**

The kishin fell right into this room, a distance away, where Lord Death was already waiting with Mister Death Scythe.

All of the rest of us were huddling behind the raised platform, watching. I was shivering, and yet I felt hot. I had a guess that I was reacting to the kishin's madness.

"…Kid."

"Not – what is it?"

At least he didn't finish that "not now;" he probably caught something in my tone.

"…Can you hold me?"

After a second of silence, he shifted so that I was trapped between him and the platform. It prevented me from watching, but part of me didn't want to watch anyway.

"Thank you."

He didn't acknowledge me. He just kept his gaze fixed on his father.

Then a severe wind kicked up, catching my tail and yanking it about until Kid shifted again and trapped it under his knee.

…Yes, that hurt. But at least I wasn't feeling like I was going to be dragged away from Kid.

Though when another wind kicked up and started blowing dust into their faces, I yanked my tail free again and moved it up in front of Kid's face.

He did push it back down again long enough to shout, "Come on, Dad!"

We did finally come out. At least, the others behind the platform decided to get onto it. I stayed where I was, curled up with my tail resting on my face, ignoring the world. I didn't know if my fear would add to Asura's strength, and so I was choosing to shunt every emotion in favor of blessed neutrality.

After a while, though, I couldn't stand that. I climbed out and crept over next to Kid.

…On all fours. I don't know why I was choosing to move like that.

Then suddenly, Asura shot an energy bolt right at us!

I straightened up and tried to shield Kid, but Lord Death flew down and got between the blast and _all_ of us!

The explosion knocked us back. I wound up on top of Kid again, but he pushed me off and looked for his dad.

I straightened up slowly and looked.

The Reaper himself was tattered, his mask broken, and Kid was kneeling beside him. Asura was all but being scolded by Excalibur of all people – why didn't _he_ look touched by the explosion? – and suddenly Asura started thrashing around in either pain or panic and left.

I glanced around for my cape. There was no sign of it, so it had probably been destroyed by the explosion. Then I found the only remaining piece.

It was the clasp. I'd made the clasp a heart.

I stood up and walked over to Kid shakily. "Kid?"

He looked at me.

"I…I…"

"Thank you for trying to protect me."

I shrugged. "Well, you know…my cape, it…it was supposed to be a superhero's cape."

He laughed a little. "It was an ugly cape, you realize that right?"

I shrugged again, giggling. "Well, I made it when I was ten." Then I looked at my hand, and back up at him. "Here." I took one of his guns from him – don't ask me which – and dropped the heart-clasp into his hand.

He studied it for a second. "…Perfectly symmetrical." Then his face crumpled, and he suddenly flung his arms around my shoulders, sobbing.

I froze for a second, but then returned the embrace. _He just lost his father; he could use the hug._

Well, okay, we hadn't lost Lord Death or Mister Death Scythe, but both were really badly hurt.

Then energy started surging from Arachne's castle!

I shivered…

Kid passed my heart-clasp back to me as Excalibur explained that the energy surge was a barrier that the kishin was setting up to give himself time to heal. Then he got Liz and Patty into his hands.

"As a Grim Reaper, I shall fight to protect this world!" Then he leaped from the hole in the wall towards the fallen castle.

Excalibur stopped a different weapon from following Kid. "You're going to follow without a meister? What good would that do?"

At that moment, I felt…strangely calm. "Excuse me, everyone. I need to go do something." With those words, and sliding the clasp into my pocket, I walked out.

* * *

Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz and Patty all battled fiercely against the kishin within his own barrier. There were a few hitches, but finally they managed to defeat him.

* * *

**Kid**

"Sooner or later another kishin will rise up," I warned my friends.

Maka wasn't worried, though. "When it does come, we'll be there."

We returned everything to normal. Then suddenly Hotaru ran over to me. "Kid!"

It was extremely unusual to hear that level of panic from her. "What is it, Hotaru?"

"I can't find Emiko anywhere!"

* * *

**A/N: I couldn't figure out how to write the final battle between the seven and Asura in anybody's POV, so that one's technically not done from anyone's POV. Besides, the temptation to do a blow-by-blow would have been great, and I don't really like putting blow-by-blows into my stories.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

* * *

I surfed along on my hover skateboard with Liz and Patty, while Hotaru raced after me on her rollerblades.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Hotaru shouted up at me.

"This is the direction to the last known location of the sorcerer Rakhishu. I asked Father about it as soon as you told me Emiko was missing."

"I thought she'd agreed to wait until you could go with her!"

I'd wondered about that myself, but I had a theory. "She probably wound up under the influence of the madness wavelengths."

* * *

When we found the old house, I landed and she skidded to a stop next to me. "You think he's still here?"

"It's possible." I closed my eyes and tried to put myself into a state where I could sense souls.

"This place is creepy…" Liz was on the nervous side.

Then I picked it up. A soul wavelength that was very faint. The trouble was, the wavelength was unfamiliar. "Well, someone's in there. Come on, and be careful."

Carefully, we went in.

Inside, it was chaos. Furniture was broken, walls were scarred, and holes were broken in the floor.

And right in the middle of the chaos…was Emiko.

She was lying on her side, and her head was almost completely that of a skunk – she still had her own hair, though. Her eyes were closed, and her jaws were open…and bracketing a glistening purple soul.

Hotaru swore under her breath. "She must have found him. With what had happened to her under the madness wavelengths, he was no match for her. Though…she probably had a determination drive."

"What?" I stared at her.

"You know, when you just know you're going to pass out but you feel like you absolutely have to do something first. If I had to guess from what happened to her clothes," the shirt and jeans she wore _were_ rather damaged, "she'd gotten hurt by this guy really badly and she felt like she had to defeat him before she passed out. Then she did it…and bending over to get the soul was the last straw." Hotaru wandered over to her friend's nose. "Liz, Patty, get ready. If Emiko's theory's correct, making her a Death Scythe will get her coughing up Medusa's spells, and it wouldn't surprise me if they were moving."

"Right!" both chorused, and they became pistols and leaped into my hands. Having nothing else to aim at, I pointed them at the floor next to Emiko.

Hotaru knelt down by Emiko, flicked the soul to the back of the skunk-jaws, closed the long mouth, lifted Emiko's face and blew into her nose.

And thanks to that prompt, Emiko swallowed, and Hotaru set her face back down and backed off.

After three seconds, Emiko's eyes snapped open, and she spasmed. Her white stripes actually started pulsing with light, and she started going into convulsions while letting out strange wheezing sounds!

I kept my weapons trained on a point in front of her, unsure what I was waiting for anymore.

She got her clawed hands under her and struggled to all fours, still wheezing dreadfully and whiplashing in convulsions.

"Any time now, Emiko…" I heard Hotaru mutter under her breath.

Then, all at once, the sound she was making changed, and a huge, black, slimy mass dropped from her mouth.

"_Eww,_" Liz's voice echoed in my head, "_that looks nasty!_"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emiko roll off to one side.

Then something in the black slime moved.

I shot the crap out of it.

When I decided that it was gone and looked around, I saw that Hotaru was kneeling by Emiko again, only this time Emiko was sitting on her knees, taking deep breaths and eating candy that Hotaru had presumably brought…and Emiko had returned to normal.

Or at least, her head and hands had returned to normal, and the tail was gone. Presumably the rest of her had returned to normal as well.

"Emiko…" I ran over, dropping Liz and Patty and landing on my knees next to her. "Are you okay?"

She looked at me. "Yeah…Kid…" her voice was returning to normal. "I…I'm sorry I didn't wait for you. But you had the kishin to fight, and I was getting antsy just doing nothing…"

I hugged her. "Don't worry about that, I'm just glad you're safe!" My hand did slip briefly under her shirt to satisfy my curiosity, and there was no fur on her back anymore.

She froze for a second, but then she returned the hug.

I pushed her back so I could study her face. She was smudged with dirt, and she looked so tired…and she was still the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. "How do you feel?"

"You mean now that I'm a Death Scythe?" At my nod, she closed her eyes and thought about that. "Well…I'm recovering faster than I thought I would. And I feel stronger…lots stronger." She opened her eyes again and studied me. "I'll still help Hotaru with her soul-collecting, nothing's changed except that…now Lord Death can call on me to do stuff for him."

"I'll be sure to tell Father." I glanced at the bag that Hotaru was holding. "How many of those have you had?"

"Hm?" Emiko followed my gaze. "I don't know, maybe ten?"

"Good." I caught her face and brought her lips to mine.

**Emiko**

That made the second time since I became a Death Scythe that I'd completely frozen. I knew that Kid had said he wouldn't try to kiss me again until I'd gotten Medusa's spells out of me, but I hadn't thought he was actually going to _do_ it! But after a second, I decided not to ask any questions and just enjoy it.

It was definitely a more passionate kiss than that first one had been, and our souls were resonating through it!

I don't know how long we sat there together, but Kid was the one to break off the kiss. He didn't really pull away, though; he just rested his forehead against mine, his golden eyes locked with my black. "I love you, Emiko, and all I could think about while I fought against Asura was that while I was still willing to give my life as a Reaper to protect the world, my only regret would have been that I hadn't had the chance to tell you that. You…you're perfect."

"…Kid…" I really didn't know what to say. Well…not quite true. "I…I love you, too."

I was vaguely aware that Liz, Patty and Hotaru were standing off to one side, pretending to ignore us. Then I heard something else. The scratching and scurrying of a rat fairly nearby.

And what relieved me the most was my own reaction. It relieved me so much that I fell into Kid's arms crying.

"Emiko? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Kid, everything's right!" I sat up and tried to dry my eyes, smiling. "My hunger for small animals and whatever is gone!"

That simple little revelation seemed to draw Kid's attention to our surroundings. "This is hardly a romantic location. Come on, let's get out of here!"

Liz and Patty jumped into gun mode and into his hands, I leaped for Hotaru and became my rope dagger form in midair, and all of us set off to a brighter day.


End file.
